Counselling Centre

Introduction

The Counselling Centre, Bharati College was set up in 2002. In fact, Bharati College was one of the pioneering colleges of Delhi University to have a Counselling Centre that was open on all working days. The Centre is supported by a team of teachers. It works with students and staff to provide free counselling, and to offer a containing and safe space in the service of all in College. Dr Rekha Sapra and Dr Sonali Jain have been associated with the Centre since its inception.

Each one of us experiences difficult emotions that have to be remembered, repeated and worked through. Somewhere we have to take personal responsibility and surrender our pain for depth and richness in life as we move on.

The Counselling Centre is one step in this direction. It is in the service of students, faculty and the non-teaching staff. In recent years, a number of students, some from violent and dysfunctional families, and others depressive, with a suicidal bent, have been coming to the Centre. Some had severe difficulties in interpersonal relationships, and felt comforted in a safe and containing space. Detailed records have been maintained for each case.

Empathy, trust and neutrality go a long way in containing emotional frailty. It must be mentioned that short term work has yielded results in enhancing the emotional health of quite a few over the years.

The most common difficulties that are encountered as a Counsellor are:

• Stress due to unhelpful parenting strategies
• Sexual abuse and incest
• Moderate anxiety and depression
• Panic attacks
• Nightmares
• Separation anxiety and fear of independence
• Taking recourse to drugs
• Gender identity crisis and fear of accepting it
• Withdrawal and prolonged sadness
• Academic failure, inability to concentrate
• Loss of appetite/overeating or excessive dieting as a way to manage difficult feelings
• Rage
• Sibling rivalry
• Conflicts around intimacy

Operational Details

Counselling is the first step in the direction of Mental Health. The Convenor, Dr Sonali Jain, is trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy, and has a certificate from Dr Sudhir Kakar, the eminent psychoanalyst and thinker. According to the norms of the discipline, counselling sessions are supervised by a professional analyst. Starting March 2017, all her sessions are under supervision. For each session, a process note, which comprises a verbatim account of the session, is made and kept as record for supervision.

For psychoanalytic counselling the Centre has been given an analytic couch by the College, so that counselling sessions are in the standard configuration. A couch is considered a must as a relaxed position is much better, for subconscious feelings and associations to surface.

Rules

The rules of the Centre are as follows:

• The Centre is available to all students, faculty and staff members of the College.
• Sessions are of 45 minute duration, twice a week, by prior appointment.
• Total confidentiality is assured.
• All counselling is free.