“Navachetana Centre” for children and youth at St. Agnes opens

“Navachetana Centre” for children and youth at St. Agnes opens

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Jan 14, 2016 :  “Navachetana Centre”, centre for counselling children and youth was formally inaugurated at the St. Agnes Centre for Postgraduate Studies and Research on Jan 13, Wednesday.  The centre was operating informally since 2008. Apart from counselling, the centre is involved in psychological assessment, remedial teaching and imparting personality development skills to children and youngsters.

K.G. Vasudha, clinical psychologist at the centre, said that students of the postgraduate centre had been visiting various schools in the city on designated dates and attending psychological and other problems of children. They were also working with students of government schools in improving English communication skills. Services of specialists at the centre were being used for assessment of aspects such as mental retardation, attention deficiency, hyperactive disorders, autism and spectrum disorder among children.

V. Premanand, Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology at the centre, said that according to a study, 20 per cent of adolescents had diagnosable mental problem. As per conservative estimates, nearly 13 per cent of children aged below five years suffer from mental problems.

While only a few cases were reported, mental illness among children and adolescents was largely unreported in the country.  Inaugurating the centre, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer P.I. Sreevidya said teachers in government schools were using services of counsellors of Department of Youth Empowerment for addressing the problems of slow learners. She asked teachers to identify problems and take action that would boost the confidence of children with learning and other disabilities.