Sruthi Chaithanya, a third-year Psychology honours student at Christ University, Bangalore is a volunteer at Soulbath Peace Foundation here. The organisation engages in counselling police officers, orphans, farmers, corporate professionals and children.

“I got to practise what I learnt in mock-counselling sessions, where I was required to talk to clients about their problems and motivate them,” she says. She also conducted a workshop in a popular pre-school where she taught children the value of compassion, self-confidence and about finding the purpose in life. Sruthi worked for the The International Annual Raj Bhowmik Global Compassion Day. Volunteers distribute water and food to workers and others from the lower income strata. She wants to do Master’s in Counselling and pursue a career in it. She reads therapy books and case studies in her free time. “People should develop a more positive attitude towards counselling. People are scared to talk about their problems. This is largely because there is a lot of stigma linked with approaching a counsellor,” she says.

Sruthi feels that people should be made aware of counselling in schools, colleges and importantly, corporate offices. “Due to the stigma, corporate workers prefer tele-counselling. This is not as effective as meeting face-to-face. When people come for counselling, we can see their expressions and understand what they are feeling. This will help us decide what to ask next,” she says.

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