PEER COUNSELING SESSION FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

On the 24^th April,2022, CIL-Kathmandu held its third session of peer counseling of this year. We have been conducting this program since past few years with the motive to encourage, guide and comfort people with disabilities. Peer counseling which basically is the process of assisting someone in considering and resolving difficulties, clarifying conflicting concerns, and assisting that person in discovering alternative ways of managing themselves and situations so that they can decide what type of action or behavior is most beneficial to them.

The peer counseling expert and Executive member of CIL Kathmandu, Sonika Dhakal was the counseling facilitator for the Peer counseling. President Tek Bahadur Gurung also assisted in the interaction with the participants. There were six male attendees all having spinal cord injuries. The session included different kinds of experience sharing with empathy by the attendees and facilitators, within which they also were highly encouraged by each other’s mutual motivation. The facilitators provided motivations and guidance on how individuals might exercise their independence and human rights while dealing with the various difficulties and provided psychological motivations for their disability. Our motive for the session was to provide technical and practical guidance to individuals on improving their lifestyle and inform them about their rights. We managed to successfully end our session with a very friendly note.