Honey, give that counselling session a miss From outdated textbooks to training sessions that fall short of standards, the University of Mumbai’s MA in Counselling is stuck in a time warp. Many therapists who come out of its gates are judgemental, prejudiced, inarticulate and are, therefore, ineffective,

Honey, give that counselling session a miss

From outdated textbooks to training sessions that fall short of standards, the University of Mumbai’s MA in Counselling is stuck in a time warp. Many therapists who come out of its gates are judgemental, prejudiced, inarticulate and are, therefore, ineffective,

When a 27-year-old psychologist and NGO worker walked into the office of a senior marriage counsellor at Andheri with her husband, little did she think that she would be put on a guilt trip. The couple’s three-year-old marriage was on the rocks — the two had trust issues and their domestic expectations from each other had fallen short. The wife wanted out, but the therapist would have none of it. Blaming her “rash” decision on her young age, the counsellor asked the psychologist, “Why do you want to leave this nice man?” Blame the therapist’s prejudice and lack of sensitivity on the University of Mumbai’s (MU) outdated post-graduation course in counselling. Shirkers, cheats have a field day Dr Dayal Mirchandani, a psychiatrist who served on the boards of studies of MU and the SNDT Women’s University, Churchgate, says not only are the syllabi of MA counselling courses behind the times, but also not enough stress is being laid on practicals and field work. “A student is required to spend 200-300 hours on the field under supervision. These days, though, students take previous years’ field journals, copy them and produce them as their own.” Professor Dr HL Kaila, a former head of the department at the SNDT Women’s University who served 18 years in the institution, says his students used to spend 24 hours a week on the field for nine months. “But, students from the University of Mumbai have to do only three months of field work, which is inadequate. How do you expect such a counsellor to have the requisite skills? How will such a student deal with his clients?” Change, what’s that? Dr Mirchandani argues that counselling courses in universities like the SNDT and the MU are stuck in a rut. They have failed to incorporate new audio-visual media equipment like videos, DVDs and one-way mirrors to observe therapy sessions in their syllabi, even as they hold on to outmoded course books. “There’s lobbying for certain textbooks so that some authors can make money,” he alleges. Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, who started the Counsellors’ Association of India, an e-group with over 2,000 members, blames this state of affairs on red tape and the lack of a political will for change in academic circles. “That’s why many colleges are not ready to interact with the new world today and hence, we are running 50 years behind in this field.” Learning on the job Chandni Parekh, social psychologist, sexuality educator and NGO consultant, recalls her time at the MU as a student only a few years ago. The counselling sessions students participated in during internships were never supervised or discussed, she says. Also, unlike in universities abroad, students here are not made to transcribe or record their counselling sessions. Therefore, there is no feedback. “One has heard many stories of therapists who were judgemental, inarticulate or generally ineffective. Since others rarely get to know about what happens inside a therapy session, it is important that therapists reflect on their skills and do what it takes to become more effective. University lecturers need to reflect upon their teaching skills honestly,” she suggests. Need for specialisation Several doctors point out the need to pursue specialisations as extensions of the course. “A counsellor for school students should know how to handle cases of child sexual abuse,” says Upasana Saraf, who has been a clinical psychologist for 20 years now and heads the department of human resource development at the Bombay Cambridge Gurukul. She trains fresh-off-the-block counsellors and supervises their cases in schools. “Postgraduates’ professional training is inadequate. There is a gap in theory and practice. Clear specialisations need to emerge after MA-Part II. The course needs to be extended by a year so that students can get more hands-on training and professional supervision,” argues Saraf. Abroad, says Dr Mirchandani, a particular branch of therapy has dedicated trainers. “Here, we lack in even the basics. We don’t even have a culturally relevant model of therapy,” he complains. Saraf suggests that students need to be filtered by their aptitude for the profession at the point of entry at the MU. “A professional evaluation should be conducted before students graduate. Unless this happens, clients will continue to be mishandled. Unfortunately, the university is short-staffed, has a low budget and lacks pro-active leadership.” Charges bunkum, says MU Denying all allegations of an incompetent faculty and an inadequate feedback mechanism for students, Dr Gautam Gawli, head of the department of psychology at the MU, says his department has the highest intake of students in India — 100 per year. He adds that teachers are even using their own personal resources to fund students’ field visits. “We have a well-equipped, air-conditioned lab and our students clock in 12 hours per week as field visit in primary schools, under supervision, for nine months.” On the charge of outdated textbooks being used in the course syllabus, he says the department had a budget cap of Rs2 lakh per annum for library books.