From  26th May – 29th May 2020  a Peer Counselling Workshop was conducted via online google meet. The members of MACS and SLC (Psychology) attended the workshop.The resource persons were Ms. Nithya Rao and Ms. Sumithra.
The workshop was intended to provide an understanding of the basics of peer counselling skills for the members of Mentoring and Counselling Services, and the members of the Service-Learning Cell (Psychology), to use throughout the year in the various activities they may discharge.
Heart It Out is a mental health and wellbeing initiative that is based in Bangalore, India. It aims to offer support as well as counselling services in various fields.
The workshop was spread over four days through which covered the various aspects of peer counselling, and was taken by Ms. Nithya and Ms. Sumithra from the organisation Heart It Out, which is a mental health and well-being initiative. The workshop covered attending behaviour through the 3Vs and a B (Visual, verbal, vocal cues, body language), identification of concerns (reasons for the person to reach out, the categories of people that seek support, the importance of identifying boundaries and safe spaces for the client. The workshop continued to cover the aspects of the types of questions to ask a client or a peer when they seek help, confidentiality, informed consent and power dynamics. The workshop then proceeded to dwell on how to take a case history, reporting to a supervisor and the different schools of therapy. Post which, aspects of psychological first aid, suicide and self harm, anxiety and panic attacks, abuse were addressed. Finally, the sessions concluded with some discussions on self care and self reflection.