Trainings
This year, Ankur Counseling Center conducted six different types of trainings. All the trainings were designed for professionals and paraprofessionals.
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(1) Specialized training in Psychosocial Counseling Skills
Ankur organized a 6-day-long specialized training (14th - 19th September, 2008) on Psychosocial Counseling Skills for people working in the field of psychology. This training was delivered by two American psychologists, Dr. Barbara Jones and Alexandra Delis-Abrams. The objective of this training was to enhance counseling skills, strengthen our networking and to disseminate recent developments in psychology. Altogether, 25 participants (10 male and 15 female) participated the training, who reported that the training was very knowledgeable and conducted effectively.
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(2) Child Parent Relationship therapy
‘Child Parent Relationship Therapy’ training was conducted for 3 days (21st – 23rd May, 2009) and focused on the people who were working for children and related areas. There were 15 participants form different organizations including FNC, NYOF, Happy House, Friendship House, Voice of Children (VOC), Direct Help Foundation, etc. The therapy was aimed to improve approaching the children and strengthening the bonds between parent and child. We also focused on play therapy elaborating its importance and sensitivity. Immediately after this training, most of the participants established Child Parent Relationship Therapy play rooms as described in the training.
(3) Basic Sand play training
Ankur is the pioneer in sand play therapy in Nepal. Since the time of inception, we have been providing training on “Basic sand play training” for any interested parties. Sand play therapy is considered an effective therapy for children and youth to reduce their various types of problems. This year, with the help of Ankur staff, Dr. Barbara conducted five-day-long (5th – 9th May, 2009) training on Basic sand play training. Six participants from various organizations were involved. The training incorporated topics such as: basic theoretical and practical knowledge on sand play therapy, importance of the sand tray in therapy, and diagnosing the problems observed in the sand play tray. The participants reported the training to be very helpful but they worried that the establishment of the play room would be expensive. In response, we suggested that the cost could be minimized by furnishing the locally available miniatures instead of expensive items.
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(4) Advance Sand play training
After the basic sand play therapy training, Ankur also conducted “Advance sand play therapy” from 12th – 14th May, 2009, hosted by Dr. Barbara Jones. They were 4 participants in this training. In the training, Dr. Jones provided in-depth knowledge on analysis of sand trays indicating the meaning of each symbol portrayed on the sand tray. The knowledge was imparted through demonstration of sand tray, discussion, presentation/lecture, and the use of audio-visual aids.
On the 13th April, 2009, Ankur organized a one-day refresher “Creative Movement Therapy” (CMT) training for the staff of FNC who had participated in our previous CMT training. This time, we hired a professional dancer for this refresher course. In addition to dance, ACC also incorporated an aerobic session which enhanced the overall training. All the participants enjoyed themsevles and said that the training was very helpful as it provided relaxation and released their work-related stress.
Based on the need assessment of the training needed for FNC staff, ACC conducted “Positive Discipline training” for 5 days (28th June-2nd July, 09) for 8 FNC Staff and 1 Happy House Foundation staff. The training incorporated topics such as understanding why and how positive discipline can be used for children, understanding and using appropriate parenting styles, and motivating participants to use Child Parent Relationship Therapy themselves and in stheir working area.