COUNSELLING SERVICES AT HOSPITALS AND SUPERVISING COUNSELLORS

Since 1996, SIAAP has helped train, place, and supervise counsellors in over 150 counselling centres and government hospitals in India. Over 150 counsellors were recruited from mainstream as well as marginalized communities including women in sex work, gay and bisexual men, visually challenged and PLHAs. This network was in partnership with nodal agencies such as Belgaum Integrated Rural Development Society (BIRDS) in Karnataka, AIRTDS in Andhra Pradesh. Counselling curriculum was designed and developed by a team of trainers both from within SIAAP and abroad. In order to integrate the component of supervision into all our training programmes, our staff was trained in the certificate course on ‘Supervisory Skills and Theory’ through affiliation with the Central School for Counselling Training, London. This helped SIAAP set up a system of supervising counsellors in Tamil Nadu.