Media Release
Mangaluru, Sep 18: Any one who passes through the historical Rosario cathedral on the Hoige Bazar Road in Bolar can notice the sampoorna counseling centre in the campus of St Ursula convent.
The credit of starting counselling ministry in Mangalore province by establishing a centre under the name ‘Sampoorna Counselling Centre’, at Ursula Convent premises in the year 2012, goes to Sr Lenita DSouza when she was the provincial superior.
The immediate ground for establishing this centre was the return of Sr Dr Judith Lewis after very successfully completing her research studies in St Thomas University, Manila, Philippines.
She being the first octor in clinical psychology in the province, it was necessary to think of a centre in order to make her studies useful and fruitful through efficacious engagement in the field of her specialization.
But providentially she got an opportunity to become a lecturer of Psychology in St Joseph’s college, Bengaluru (which has become a University now), in the same year and she rendered meritorious services there by starting a new department of psychology which is now flourishing well.
As she terminated her services in the college in the year 2018 and returned to Mangaluru, Sr Lilly Fernandes, the general councilor of the congregation then, was kind enough to take interest in the Centre by furnishing it well and making it quite attractive.
Sr Judith resumed her responsibility as the director of the centre on July 16, 2018, and since then it slowly picked up its tempo and now running in full swing, very successfully under her professional skill.
Sampoorna means wholeness and from psychological perspective wholeness means a sense of good and perfect mental health. It is a well known fact that people pay more attention to physical health and hardly any one thinks of mental health in our society. In this context the Samporna counseling centre has a specific mission to fulfill, namely to propagate not only the awareness of the need for mental health but also to provide concrete support whenever people are tormented with psychological disorders.
Dr Sr Judith Lewis being a clinical psychologist, and well qualified with necessary skills and core competence to encounter the clients and identify their problems: emotional, mental, and behavioural, through observation, interviews, and psychological tests, has proved herself to be effective and successful in her ministry. She, with her expertise easily does the clinical diagnoses of any existing or potential disorders. She has also developed treatment plans and therapeutic processes, useful for her clients.
Dr Sr Judith Lewis has earned a name for herself as a clinical psychologist since she returned from Manila in 2012. During the last ten years she has not only attended international conferences in Taipei, Singapore, Malaysia, spain, Portugal and Berlin, as well as national psychological seminars, but also guided internship for MSc students of psychology, volunteered as co-guide to research students, all under the umbrella of Sampoorna Counselling Centre. She is now known as a qualified resource person for career guidance, aptitude tests and specialized psychological guidance to children, youth, married couples and families. All these activities keep the Centre totally engaged and occupied throughout the week with an average of around 50 sessions per week.
Yet another, by no means less significant an activity of the centre is to amplify its extension programmes to other institutions with psychological assistance. The scope of this activity is boundless and the director is actively engaged in presenting herself as a resource person to the following Institutions:
1. Formation Houses and Religious Communities
2. Educational: (Schools and Colleges)
3. Social Work Centers:
4. Articles and Write-ups.
Regular contributor to the online digital “Dijiworld” magazine, (www.daijiworld.com/news) on relevant psychological topics in order to enlighten the public on mental health and psychological issues.
Rakno Publications: Few articles has been published in Rakno for Konkani language readers in order to give awareness on various psychological issues. The land mark achievement in media apostolate from the Sampoorna Counselling Centre is by the publication of the book, “The Pearls for Sound Living” authored by Sr Dr Judith Lewis and published by ATC Publications, which was released on Easter Vigil, Saturday April 16, at St Annes Church Thottam, Let the Sampoorna Counselling Centre reach the new heights of service to the humanity.