Lucknow, Jul 19 (IANS): The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has initiated a first of its kind trauma-informed counselling to children who lost their parents during the pandemic.

The move, according to officials, is intended to provide mental and emotional health treatment to children who are now forced to live with a permanent void of a life without parents.

Manoj Rai, director, women and child development department, said that "There is a grave need, more than ever, to stand with affected children throughout their life so that they can lead a quality life and get over their trauma."

Giving details of the Uttar Pradesh Mukhya Mantri Bal Sewa Yojana that was started in June last year, Rai claimed over 11,000 children have been identified under the scheme in Uttar Pradesh.

"With the support of UNICEF and Mind Piper (mental health services provider), four counsellors from District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) and One Stop centres, were trained in each district to identify the trauma cases and help them overcome the grief and post-traumatic stress disorder. In total, over 300 counsellors were trained for the purpose across the 75 districts," Rai said.

After the training, these counsellors went to the houses of these children and counselled them.

In May 2022, analysis and field visits were conducted during which it was found that some children were still highly traumatised.

"To provide counselling to these highly traumatised children, specialised training was given to 40 counsellors who are now helping these children," Rai said.

Trauma-informed counselling is a special care treatment in which the trained counsellors engage with a depressed person in a manner that allows for implementation of an effective treatment process through tailored interventions.