Media Release

Mangaluru, Oct 5: The symposium on ‘Validation of Family Centered Social Work Method: Contemporary Challenges’ held at the School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya Mangaluru was inaugurated on October 5. Dr Bino Thomas, additional professor of psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru was the chief guest.

In his inaugural address he congratulated the institute for regularly organising Spandana for the past two decades with apt social work themes. In the present context families are undergoing tremendous changes at an alarming speed making social work interventions a necessity. Building healthy and sustainable families need to be the fulcrum of all social work interventions. The theme selected for the symposium is the most contemporary and called upon the delegates to have a great intellectual journey from the conference, he added.

Karuna, a leading legal professional from LexLeo Advocates & Consultants, Bengaluru who has vast experience in family law, in her keynote address highlighted on crisis hit families due to the emerging diversities and inclusion related issues. She opined that these crises are inevitable and in these situations resilience is embedded in the families.

Presiding over the programme, Dr Jemis Mary, vice principal highlighted the changing patterns of families. Families are becoming smaller. There are many families where there is only a single child. The assumption is that the single child has fulfilled all his or her requirements in the family. The most important thing is that the child should develop, learn and develop bonding in families. It is not possible when both the parents are working and there is a single child. Highlighting on family values she stated that millions of books cannot teach what a family does. The amount of support one could gather from the family is infinite. She called upon the social workers to address the changing requirements of the families to have a healthy society.

Dr Sophia N Fernandez, principal of the college. Prof Eveleen Bennis, HoD of MSW, Jinsa Joseph, organising secretary, Anuradha Shetty, assistant coordinator, Sona Prakash student convenor and Delilah Valerie Goveas were among others present. Over 200 delegates participated in the symposium.