Mental Health counselling for Adolescents in India

MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELLING FOR ADOLESCENTS: ACTIVITY REPORT (JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2018) 

Work Area:

Bapunagar, Rakhiyal, Gomtipur, Saraspur and Ramolareas in East Ahmedabad, Gujarat 

Objectives :

v  To identify psychological problems prevailing among adolescents.

v  To intervene with adolescents so that they develop better coping skills to lead a better quality of life.

v  To provide psycho-education to parents where need arises.

v  To train teachers of schools in Bapunagar in providing support to adolescents.

v  To hold hands of teachers and monitor their performance. 

Awareness Meetings

Awareness raising meetings with adolescents were held at the community and school level. These meetings primarily focused on their day-to-day issues that have to be faced by them effectively with more strength and courage. The counsellor made efforts to identify the problems of the adolescents by noting their shared responses during the awareness meetings. 

36 awareness meetings were conducted at the community level covering 855 adolescents. 

                   AREA                          NO. OF MEETINGS HELD           TOTAL ADOLESCENTS COVERED

~ Community                                                    36                                                                  973

~ School                                                           04                                                                  224

TOTAL                                                              40                                                                1197

Number of cases handled 

A total of 90 cases were handled over the quarter. Of these, 8 cases approached the Centre, while 82 cases were handled by AWAG’s counsellor at the school level.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS OF THE CASES 

To summarize the total of 90 adolescent cases that were intervened with... 

• 87 cases (97%) fall under counselling category and 3 cases (3%) fall under psychiatric category.
• Out of the 87 counselling cases, 79 cases (91%) face academic problems, 7 cases (8%) face emotional / behavioural/ personal problems and 1 case (1%) are affected by family issues.
• Adolescents at the secondary stage (age group ranging from 16-22 years) seem to face more problems. Majority of them are going to school followed by school dropouts. Most dropouts are from Std.8 and 10.
• Out of 3 cases, 1 case were ruled out as Mild Depression Disorder, 1 case as ?Psychosis ?Mild Depression Disorder with Psychosis, and 1 case as Tension Headache. These psychiatric cases were given individual as well as parental counselling sessions.