by Shalu Mehrotra
MUMBAI, JAN 30, 2017: Over a thousand students and their parents participated in the third edition of Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (KKKG) across three different Don 
Bosco locations in Mumbai, in January 2017, in an attempt to reach out to larger audiences to develop emotional health.
Prafulta Psycholgical Services, a Don Bosco organisation that has been offering a variety of psychological services to people, especially children and adolescents for the past 18 years organised the event, with the aim to enable individuals to live life to the fullest.
Over 400 students of standard five, six and seven from 21 different schools celebrated the 'Festival of Feelings' at Don Bosco Institute of Technology, Kurla on January 15. They sat in small groups on the open grounds to draw, paint and write about their feelings. A counsellor helped them to choose a difficult emotion like anger, fear, sadness or any other.
After feeling that emotion, they expressed it on paper. Along with one difficult emotion, they also got in touch with the feeling of 'joy' and again expressed it on paper. Students then attended a workshop on 'Handling Difficult Emotions'. While the children were busy enjoying and learning about emotions, their parents had an hour's interaction with psychologists on 'Effective Parenting'.
Dominic Savio High School, Andheri hosted the second event on January 22, with almost 400 students and their parents from over 20 schools participating. The finale was on January 29 at Don Bosco, Matunga where over 400 students and their parents from 30 schools participated in the event. Across three different locations, Prafulta Psycholgical Services reached out to more than 1200 students from around 70 schools in Mumbai and their parents.
One of the important contributors to effective and happy living is mental and emotional health. Over the years, great emphasis has been laid on intellectual development and also on physical fitness. However, emotional health and development has largely been side-lined. Stressors are increasing in life, but coping mechanisms are dwindling. Thus it is important to strengthen the emotional resilience in children. KKKG is a programme that endeavours to build emotional resilience in children in a fun filled manner.
Prafulta Psycholgical Services believe that in helping children understand how to handle their feelings, they will cope better in difficult situations, especially in the tough times we live today. Anger and jealousy often lead to violence and not knowing how to cope with sadness makes children withdraw. KKKG equipped children with the mechanisms on coping with tough emotions and difficult situations in a healthy manner.
Parents are also at a loss n
ot knowing how to handle their children with the over-stimulation of media and given the competitive environment around. The programme gave parents a platform to voice their confusion and receive assistance from trained psychologists on how to handle issues related to children.
Prafulta Psycholgical Services through KKKG provided a win-win situation for all!