Lady Doak College has believed in holistic education for decades considering the complete well-being of young girls and women. The significant impact of mental well-being in the wholesome development of an individual was realized by Ms. Shanti Manuel, Former Principal, and a team in 1986. This foresighted vision has paved the way for the evolving of the Counselling Unit at Lady Doak College, which has grown into a Centre offering Counselling services, wellness programmes, and courses in the academic year 2023-2024. Counselling Centre, being a unique feather in the cap of Lady Doak is a place of serenity and peace located in the Christian Activity Centre. The remarkable contribution of Dr. Emma Gonsalves, Counsellor & Psychotherapist in training faculty in counselling skills on various occasions and thereby, pioneering in nurturing the members of Lady Doak fraternity is gratefully acknowledged.
An empathetic crew of three faculty members ~ Dr. Beulah J.M. Rajkumar (Retd. Bursar and Head of the Department of Physics), Dr. Jeyanthi (Retd. Professor of Economics) and Dr. Sandhya (Retd. Professor of Zoology) underwent a training course at ICSA campus, Chennai and initiated the Peer group counselling programme as a meaningful component of the counselling centre. Dr. Kalanithi Christopher, Former Head and Associate Professor of Chemistry, has been the backbone of the Counselling Centre as its Coordinator since its inception and with her distinguished contribution laid the foundation for its effective functioning. The unit continued its visionary journey under the leadership of other former Principals Dr. Prema Micheal, Dr. Nirmala Jeyaraj, and the succeeding Co-ordinators.
Dr. Synthia Mary Mathew, (Retd. Head of the Department of Social Sciences and Associate Professor of Psychology) as the graceful successor contributed remarkably to the development of the Counselling Centre. The centre grew in strength through offering counselling and mentoring workshops for the faculty members, wardens and also through offering individual therapeutic counselling through trained faculty and peer counsellors. One of the major changes occurred in 1996, when Rev. Chellaraj Fenn, a trained pastoral counsellor, fondly called by students as Fenn uncle, took up the responsibility of being the Part-Time Counsellor.
Dr. Mercy Pushpalatha, Former Principal and team launched the Intercessory Prayer Hall adjacent to The Counselling Centre in the Christian Activity Centre in 2015 emphasizing the significance of Spiritual dimension in holistic well-being. Valuable contributions of the series of part-time counsellors henceforth are recognized. In addition to offering Peer group Counselling training Programmes and individual Counselling Services, the centre also ventured into other areas like creating a module-based programme on “Healthy Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood" to be offered to all I UG students by trained faculty in collaboration with the Value Education centre. This also led to the initiation of the mentoring programme for the I UG students and a series of workshops were arranged to train interested faculty representing all departments in the various aspects of mentoring.
Dr. Christianna Singh, Former Principal and the team felt the increasing need for Counselling and have set a new benchmark by assuring the availability of the Full-time Counsellor in the Counselling Centre since 2019. Within the purview of her shepherding heart, the Centre has initiated several activities considering the holistic well-being of the members belonging to Lady Doak College community, like She COPES (COVID 19 Online Peer Emotional Support), Harmony - the monthly family get-together, Value Added Course on ‘Discovering the Real Self’, e-newsletter ‘Pebbles’, United Board funded Peace Education Programme titled, Peace Education: An Integral part of Whole Person Education (PE_WPE@LDC), and outreach counselling services along with ‘Caring for the Carers’ programme at the Association of Arulagam. An Online Diploma Course on ‘Cultivating Emotional Wellbeing’ is also being offered in collaboration with Person to Person, Institute for Christian Counselling, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh.
Dr.R.Beulah Jeyashree, Principal & Secretary, fostered a caring environment in which, the Counselling Centre has further evolved by completing the UB funded project on ‘Reorienting the Inner Compass towards Peace’, that includes a series of creative workshops, group counselling sessions and retreats, in 2024-25. NALAM - Nurture all with Love, Acceptance, and Mindfulness, is the new wellness initiative, launched by the collaborative efforts of Dr. Jessie Ranjitha Jebaselvi C., The Chaplain, and her team. The Centre has also introduced a new Value Added Course, titled, ‘Conflict Resolution and Mediation Skills’.
Generations of women have been blessed by the services of the Counselling Centre and are living witnesses of their creator. The centre continues to function with the focused vision of demonstrating unconditional positive regard towards individuals in order to accompany them in their subjective healing journeys.