Look for early signs, say experts
growing substance addiction and other disorders among teenagers is becoming a matter of concern
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-27 03:15 GMT
Kochi: While growing substance addiction and other disorders among teenagers is becoming a matter of concern, there is hope as they can be treated and cured, according to experts in the field, who advise school counsellors to detect the signs early.
“The role of a school counsellor is crucial as students spend more time in schools during their formative years. Mental health has now become an important topic in the school curriculum,” said Dr Janaki Sankaran, member, Ernakulam District Child Welfare Committee.
Addressing a pre-conference workshop for school counsellors held as part of ‘SIPSCON-2014,’ the three-day annual conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society, Kerala region, she said counsellors should try to pick up on the warning signs like attention deficiency or a sudden change in academic performance or behaviour.
“The next step is to develop a comprehensive intervention programme. This involves establishing a team, assessing the school and community environment, developing a plan, monitoring, evaluating and modifying programmes,” she said, also advising counsellors to give direct counselling only to higher secondary students and talk to the parents first if the student was from a primary class.
Urging counsellors not to segregate students and herd all problematic children together, she said this would do more harm than good. "The effort should be to appreciate the positive things in students and change them over a period of time by counselling,” Dr Sankaran added.
The counsellors present were meanwhile concerned about some of their students becoming addicted to glue sniffing and a few others consuming alcohol even while in school.