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Don Bosco Provincial House, Bandlaguda, 10-11 August 2019: On the 10th and 11th of August 2019, teachers representing Don Bosco Schools in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were given the wonderful opportunity to attend a Training Workshop on School Counselling by Rev Fr. Donthi Raja sdb. The program was organized by the Don Bosco Province, Hyderabad. Rev. Fr Santiagu, the Vice-Provincial, in his opening address outlined the plans of the Province to provide continuous counselling training for Don Bosco School teachers throughout the year. He spoke about the need for school teachers to be well equipped with dealing with social problems that impact the lives of many of our youth today. In addition, he said that the teachers who are interested in training further would also be encouraged to pursue their Masters in Psychology.
As the Province Youth Director, Rev. Fr Donthi Raja has vast experience working with adolescent children and youth. He also is about to complete his PhD in Psychology, and therefore, his expertise was deeply appreciated by the participants. Over the two days, Fr. Raja gave great insight into the realm of psychological counselling. He stressed on the need for teachers to undergo thorough training over a period of time, as well as attaining the right qualification, before they could counsel students. The purpose of this workshop was to give an overview of the skills required in counselling. He said that, “Counselling should be seen as the first step along the path to facilitating the development of young people in order that they become all they could be.” “Counselling and supporting students with difficulties should be seen as a means of beginning the process of empowering young people to fully utilize their potential.”
The session began with an introduction to the different branches of psychology, the qualifications for each category and about Theories of Personality and Theories of Counselling. Teachers were then given an overview of the skills needed in interviewing and counselling students from building a rapport with the student during counselling to observing verbal and non-verbal communication. The participants were given the opportunity to practise some of the techniques learned during a practical session. In one of the sessions, teachers were also asked to list some of the challenges faced in the classroom with the intention that some of the issues would be addressed in later counselling training programmes.
This was a highly productive workshop which covered quite a range of topics and skills which would not only help teachers to counsel students but also enhance classroom management and teaching skills. Our grateful thanks to Rev. Fr Raja for his expert guidance during the training; which certainly sparked off a lot of interest among the teachers. We are also very grateful to the Provincial and Vice-Provincial of Don Bosco Province Hyderabad for introducing this great initiative to train teachers in counselling.
