Dharamshala: The Department of Health, CTA, with kind funding and support from PRM, US via Tibet Fund, conducted a three-day substance abuse meeting and workshop for school counsellors from  9 to 11 July 2024 at Hotel Tibet, McLeod Ganj. The main objective of this event was to educate counsellors on substance abuse and addiction and to review resolutions for the prevention of substance abuse and its addition in schools.

Eighteen participants from TCV and Sambhota Tibetan schools attended the workshop. The main speakers were Dr Rachna Bhargava, Clinical Psychologist and Professor at AIIMS, New Delhi; Prakash Chandra, Counsellor at a rehabilitation centre; and Ngawang Tenzin, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health. Two patients from the Kunphen Center also shared their experiences and challenges associated with substance addiction.

Topics covered during the sessions included:
1. Introduction to Addiction, Alcohol and Drugs of Abuse, and the Recovery and Management of Addiction
2. Concept of Comorbidity, Identification of Co-morbidity Disorders such as ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Conduct Disorder, Behavioral Disorder, and Management of those Comorbidities
3. Mobile Addiction among Children
4. Peer Pressure and Addiction and How to Deal with Peer Pressure
5. Adolescent Behavioral Change and the Role of Counselors

The participants also reviewed and formulated resolutions to be implemented in schools to prevent substance abuse. On the final day, they visited the Kunphen Rehabilitation Center on Khanyara Road.

-Report filed by the Department of Health-