Friday, May 20, 2011

A Real Stress Buster

By Arathi Kannan
With undue pressure mounting on students these days, it seems like almost everyone is in need of some professional help to cope with the stress. “Advising is not counselling” says Mrs. Shankari Mandiram, a psychologist who runs an institute that offers such professional help. Mrs. Mandiram believes that counselling involves a lot of empathy and not sympathy. “The counselor should have genuine concern and unconditional positive regard towards the client” she says.
She deals mainly with students and parents, especially the ones who need to build their self confidence levels. She says that the main problem parents face is anxiety about their child’s academic performance and overall development. The students on the other hand have many other problems like inability to concentrate in studies and peer pressure.
Her organisation, NISS Institute of Soft Skills Private Limited has its centre in Gandhi Nagar, Adyar and conducts various courses for students and their parents. Currently, she is conducting a summer course called “Smarter You”, a personality enhancement and soft skill training programme. She also runs long term courses that focus on psychological help and mentoring. These sessions last for over ten months.
Ask her about her future plans and she says “I am planning to start a mental conditioning course for students appearing for the IIT-JEE exam. I already have lots of clients who are under pressure due to that.”
Mrs. Shankari Mandiram can be contacted at +919940164661.

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