Behavioural Counselling Programme
CONNECTIONS (Because... Everyone Matters)
It is a comprehensive mental health program which ensures increased receptivity as well as understanding of overall health including mental and physical wellness. The aim is to provide a platform to both the students and their parents to overcome any behavioural, emotional and academic concerns and enhance their mental health and thus upgrading academic performance as well.
The major counselling concerns among students were identified using the Counselling Needs Survey. This survey was completed by the parents of all the students from class Pre Nursery to XII. The major concerns identified among the students were difficulty concentrating, distracting easily, and finding difficulty in establishing and maintaining a daily routine, declining interest in attending the virtual classes, feeling anxious or nervous and difficulties in managing emotions. The more specific concerns among the students of senior classes were peer pressure, low self esteem, anxiety and depression, clarity regarding stream or university selections and setting goals.
Based on the specific concerns individual counselling sessions were provided, where parents and students were encouraged to think about their problems and come to a greater understanding of the causes in order to enable them in taking appropriate action. Some of the counselling sessions specifically focussed on grief counselling related to covid deaths in the students families.
Individual counselling sessions are provided to the students, parents and teachers. Specific Psychological Interventions are provided to the students and their parents who are screened with any developmental delays, behavioural, emotional and/or academic difficulties. At Connections we provide
• Parental Counselling and psychoeducation
• Behavioural Modification and Cognitive Retraining to students with mild problems
• Remedial Education and Special Education to more severe cases
• The students with severe problems like neuro-developmental disorders, anxiety, depression, suicidal tendencies etc. are referred to the outside agencies for psychotherapies.
With these individual counselling and special education sessions we aim to enable and encourage parents and the students to think about their problems, come to a greater understanding of the causes and to take appropriate action.
Group counselling sessions are also taken up by the counsellors on various topics like First aid of feelings, Mental Health of adolescents, Puberty and developmental changes, Online safety, Conflict management, Bullying, Charms and Challenges of Adolescence, Anger management and Time management.
Multiple Intelligences Model of Learning
Apart from the individual counselling sessions we at CONNECTIONS also aim at upgrading the overall mental health and academic performance of each and every student by equipping them with the relevant information regarding the various aspects of mental health. One such means is the Multiple Intelligences Model of Learning. Multiple Intelligences is a concept given by Howard Gardner which has strong implications in the academic world. Linguistic, Logical Mathematical, Musical, Bodily kinaesthetic, Visual-Spatial, Interpersonal and Intrapersonal are the seven Intelligences which Howard Gardner calls “proclivities” (or inclinations) toward specific intelligences from a very early age. A good understanding of a students’s dominant intelligence is to know “what do they do when nobody is telling them what to do?” and this knowledge would significantly enable the students in upgrading the academic performance and thus enhancing the mental health and well being.
All the students from grade III to XII were assessed on the Free multiple intelligences tests based on Howard Gardner's seven-intelligences model. The data was collected, analysed and interpreted. The class reports and individual reports were generated and shared with the class teachers, which were further shared by the respective class teachers to their students individually.
Development based Model of Learning
The students in the early years need support to make sure they stay healthy and happy. Just like hearing and vision screenings assure that children can hear and see clearly, developmental and behavioral screenings assure that children are making developmental progress, in areas such as language, social, or motor development. The six developmental skills were assessed using Parent reported Developmental checklist separately for the separate age groups ranging from Pre Nursery to Grade II. The class reports and individual reports were generated and shared with the class teachers, students and the parents individually.
Some significant after effects of the knowledge about the dominant intelligences and developmental milestones for the students and teachers are
• Increased Self Esteem
• Boost Self Confidence
• Increased Student Teacher Connection
• Increased Self Regulation
• Decrease Behavioural Problems
• Better Understanding of The Concepts
• Gradual Improvement in Academic Performance
• Positive Attitude Towards Learning
• Happy Student and Happy Teacher
