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Course begins from- 25th September’23 —-

Post graduate Diploma in Psycho-therapies (PGDP) is a course that covers all major psychotherapeutic approaches, with primary focus on Rogerian principles.While the syllabus is largely based on MA/M.Sc. (Psychology and Counselling) syllabii of Indian universities, it is adjusted to the specific needs of our students at Banjara and elsewhere who are interested in learning and getting a deeper understanding of the process of counseling.

We believe that to be a counselor, along with the particular skill sets, we first need to understand ourselves. The theoretical foundation will bring in a deeper insight into the bases of the counseling process and most importantly, an awareness leading to becoming a ‘person’ as a counselor.

The syllabus includes major psychotherapy frameworks structured by Freud, Ellis, Beck among others, with a primary focus on Humanistic and Rogerian approaches. The syllabus is mainly a guideline and a reference frame – the course itself follows a non-traditional path and is more process based rather than a customary “exam-marks” style. Students are expected to listen, read, study, discuss, interact and be participatory with the topics and themes to gain a wider understanding and connective learning.

This is a process-based, theoretical and experiential based course and you will get the best out of the sessions if you come well prepared. We will also have video or live sessions with Guest speakers who will give an in-depth coverage on the topics.

The highlight of the course is a Weekly Interactive Mentoring Session, which will help you to improve your understanding of the topics previously covered in the Online class. We will also have a monthly Interactive Review Session with the faculty, to discuss the important topics covered in that month. This shall further enhance your learning and application.

Course Details

  • Six-month Online course with Live classes on first three Mondays in a month for 2 hours each (2:30 pm to 4:30 pm) and one Interactive Live Review session with the faculty on the 4thMonday (2:30 pm to 4:30 pm).
  • Your Mentor: A Group Mentoring Session every week, in a smaller group, on a convenient day decided at the start of the program by the mentor and the mentees. The mentor will be your friend and guide who will help you to enhance your learning and review your progress.
  • Weekly notes, with assignments once a month
  • Monthly live sessions by Dr. Ali Khwaja (Chairman and Founder, Banjara) and other eminent Guest Faculty.

Certificate will be awarded by Banjara Academy on full attendance, timely submission of questionnaires and assignments to the satisfaction of assessors, and proper responses in sessions. Those not coming up to the expectations of Faculty will be given a participation certificate.

Eligibility

Graduates of psychology or related mental health fields, social work, or practicing counselors or those who have done or are doing Diploma in Counseling Skills at Banjara Academy.

Duration of course

  September ’23 to April’24

Our Faculty

Dr. Lakshmi K.

M.A.(Psychology), M.A. (Health Counseling, SCU, USA), M. Phil, Ph.D

Lakshmi has studied and is trained in psychotherapy, counseling and clinical work in various universities including a Masters graduate programme and M.Phil from Osmania University, and a Masters in Health Counselling from Santa Clara University, USA, eventually completing her Ph.D. from National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS). She has been a longstanding counselor and faculty member at Banjara Academy. She has been guest and visiting faculty and visiting counsellor at Bangalore University (PG students), NID, Bangalore campus, and at NIAS, Bangalore. Lakshmi’s pet passion is knowing the self and through the self process attaining well-being and mental health. She has also been trained in grief therapy and has trained in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy from Psychotherapy Advanced Resources Centre (PARC), Bangalore.

Dr. Chandra Janakiraman

B.Sc., B.Ed., M.A. Psychology, Ph.D. in Psychology

Chandra has had a teaching experience at various educational levels – ranging from pre-school to post-graduation and university level psychology, and in in-service teacher education. She has had an exposure to different education systems – both in India and abroad, and has done coursework development. She has worked as a remedial teacher in Nan-gang Elementary School, Taipei, Taiwan where she identified and diagnosed specific problems in learning at the individual level, teaching, counseling, family counseling, etc. Chandra has also counseled and worked on empowering parents to help children who were struggling with schoolwork. In addition, she has been a Trainer/Training Mentor/Subject Matter Expert at Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vahini and other schools, and Direct Taxes Regional Training Institute, Bangalore. Chandra has participated actively and regularly in the community volunteer program for assisting classroom teachers in a pre-school and a primary school in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A. (2001 to 2005). Also, she has participated in the UGC Refresher Course for Faculty of Psychology, is qualified for NET in Psychology, and has been awarded UGC-JRF and SRF Scholarships from 1993 to 1998 for Doctoral Research.

Dr Ali Khwaja (Founder-Banjara Academy)

B.Tech(IIT),MIE, MIIM, Ph.D

A Montessorian, an engineering graduate of IIT Bombay, MIE, MIIM, with a Ph.D in behavioral sciences, he has always carved out his own path and been a free-lancer, ensuring that work is joy every day. He is invited regularly to conduct workshops or lectures for Defence, Central Government, prestigious National institutions, schools and colleges, but he prefers to be informal, learning while he teaches, and being honest and congruent in whatever he says or does. He is the founder and Chairman of Banjara Academy, a unique institution committed to improvement of quality of life. He nurtures and motivates over 300 volunteers to give free service in 10 hospitals and the Academy’s own counselling centres. He conducts a very popular and practical one year part-time Diploma in Counselling Skills and a 6-month Certificate in Life Skills. He written over 30 books and 80 booklets on all practical aspects of day-to-day life, and writes regular columns and articles in many reputed publications, and edits a unique newsletter. His videos on Banjara’s website get thousands of viewers from all over the world. Notwithstanding all that, he loves all human beings alike, is willing to listen, and his prime focus is on empowering individuals to help themselves.

I remember I had acted in Shakespeare’s play on Julius Caesar in school, and the dialogue that stuck in my mind is “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries”.

Isn’t it true? Each of us gets some unique opportunity some time in life.  If we take it, we zoom ahead, but many a time we let it go – and keep wondering why we are not making progress.

TODAY is the day to shake off your past, be aware of your present (mindfulness), and take a peep into your future. Happy people are those who do not complain about the weather, they create their own.

 

Career Choices  beyond Academics

By Dr. Ali Khwaja

(who studied Engineering in IIT, but never used the knowledge, who practiced counselling but was not qualified  in it, who was refused admission in a University to pursue his doctoral studies, and finally landed up becoming an Advisor to the same (and another) university; who believes that being a better human being is far more important than being a highly qualified person).

At school a quarter century ago, I had two class mates who inevitably competed for the last rank in every term exam. Their marks were so miserable that no one could go down  to their level. They both dropped out of school. We kept in touch and found that one has become a taxi driver, and the other a Medical Sales Representative. “Poor guys” we all said as we went on to college and professional courses.

Today the first guy runs a travel agency with a dozen luxury buses, two dozen air conditioned cars, and an agency of international airlines. The second fellow is the CMD of a pharmaceutical company that is listed on the stock exchange, and has a turnover in tens of crores.

What is the moral of the story? Even though academic qualifications are very important in life, they are slowly yielding to the more important factors of skills and abilities. The education system is good for those who have a high IQ (i.e. mathe-logical and linguistic intelligence), but if you have other types of intelligences, then you perform badly and lose interest in studies.

 If you do not have a super-high IQ and are struggling with your textbooks, focus on building your basic Life Skills (i.e. how to deal with different situations and challenges of life) and how to sharpen your Emotional Intelligence (EQ), your emotional Intelligence. This consists of 5 parameters:

  1. Self-awareness (of your emotions, your strengths and weaknesses).
  2. Self-regulation (of your strong feelings, your actions)
  3. Motivation ( finding out what really gets YOU going )
  4. Empathy ( being able to understand what is going on in other people’s minds, and why they behave in a particular way ).
  5. Social Skills ( ability to build interpersonal relations, team work, and eventually, leadership skills)

If  you are still not convinced, think of the great Mr. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and the leader of the IT revolution in the world. One would think he holds many degrees with medals and prizes. Actually good old Bill dropped out from Harvard (and that too from the American education system, which is supposed to be much more flexible than ours). And do you know why he chose to drop out ? Because, of all the subjects, he hated Math. And maths, as you know, is the backbone of the IT industry. What Bill has to his credit is a high EQ. You too can start building your EQ now, regardless of your age and your academic qualifications (or lack of it). One day you will overtake others, like my classmates did.

Explore all possibilities in the fields that do not require too much of academic excellence, mugging up, or studying theory.

 

Asking the Right Questions….

Google has been answering all your questions since many years. It has become second nature to get information instantaneously from Google whenever we have any doubts or want to find out something we don’t know.

Now we have entered the era of AI. ChatGPT gives you answers from data collected from any part of the world, even that which has not been authorized, and which has not been verified whether it is true or not.

So……getting answers has become easier and easier.  The question is, do you know the right questions to ask which will ensure that you get credible information?

In the era of Data Sciences, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, we need to be aware that many of us are becoming DRIP (Data Rich, Insight Poor).

Since there is overload of information, and no guarantee that the information is correct, we need to develop the skill to ask the right questions.

Any courses to teach that to us, or does it boil down to the basics of Life Skills?