On 17 and 18 February, St. Luke’s College organized ‘Basic Counseling’ training as part of staff capacity training. We, 19 College Office staff, participated in the training willingly. The aim of the course was to enhance and empower the staff in their capacity to deal with the students as well as to enable them to give peer support at work. The course included a wide range of effective activities such as brainstorming, individual and group experience sharing, presentation sessions, and Q&A sessions.

The agenda for the first day of the training included topics: Lifespan Development, Mental Health Awareness, Self-Care, Common Psychological Issues of Adults, and Attending Skills.

On the second day, we had more demonstration sessions and paired practice sessions on ‘Active Listening, the ABC (Awareness, Balance, Connection), and SOLER (Sit squarely with the person, Open Body postures, Slightly Learn from the person, Have a direct Eye contact with the person and Be in Relax mood) of Attending Behaviors.’ The ‘Code of Conduct’ for the counseling, and ‘MI’ (Motivational Interview) were also on the day’s agenda.

The training though short was of tremendous help to the personal development and group dynamic of the staff. All the participants reap bountiful harvests from the training.