+91 94864 86899, 0451 - 2420031
anugrahacentre@gmail.com
Welcome to our Anugraha, the Institute for Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Research. Anugraha, Institute for Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Research, designed by Capuchin Friars of Queen of Peace Province, Tamil Nadu, South India We offer professional psychotherapy training, counselling training, and supervision. We also offer a varied programme of workshops, seminars, and other training events to enhance and enrich human dignity and understanding.While we, at Anugraha, strive to give individuals what it takes to become confident and competent counsellors, we urge them to take every opportunity to explore the realm of learning and to develop their skills in counselling. We hope that participants will enjoy their time with us and help us make the programme an exciting and rigorous clinical training experience.
A Historical Note Of Anugraha
A flower garden, beautiful landscape, a spacious building and Franciscan hospitality; these are the various facets of Anugraha. It seems almost unseemly to attempt to analyse the charm of this house and its surroundings. Embracing mountain, woods and fields, Anugraha provides a perfect atmosphere for the enrichment of body, mind and spirit! Anugraha emanates from twenty years of experience assisting people in the field of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Anugraha means Providence or Grace. This Anugraha Institute is the work of God’s Providence and not our contemplation. Its humble beginning and gradual expansion will bear witness to the Grace of Providence.
At this point we have become more aware of a fact so aptly stated by the poet John Donne, that “no one is an island.” The history of Anugraha has deepened our awareness of our dependence upon many resources, persons and experiences. The new vistas in Anugraha would not have been possible were it not for the giants upon whose shoulders we stand and the contributions of many able friars, stimulating students, trusting acquaintances, priest friends, supportive religious friends, and families. We do appreciate all those who had and have been serving in our Institution with love and dedication since its foundation.
Anugraha which proved itself as a veritable resource of healing has Fr. John Antony, the Founder and Director as its cornerstone and many other friars as its pillars. Initially Fr. John Antony designed a one-month counsellor Training Programme for the benefit of the students of Capuchin Theologate. He inaugurated the course in Amalashram, our Capuchin Theological Institute in January 1989. The participants found the course immensely rewarding and intriguing. They suggested to have the course open to outsiders. Hence from the following year 1990, priests, religious and lay began to attend. But soon changes in the staff and curriculum of the Theologate necessitated a different place to run the course. At this critical juncture, Fr. S. Arockiam persuaded Fr. John Antony to shift the course to Assisi Ashram, Pampanvillai, Nagercoil in Jan 1991. Assisi Ashram happened to be an animation centre and our Capuchin Novitiate. The transfer of the course was a mighty struggle and a great providence. Very soon Fr. Arockiam and Fr. I. Joseph joined the staff and nurtured the growth of Anugraha. It gained wider circles and greater popularity. Leaning from the participants the scope of counselling ministry in Tamil Nādu. We named our Institute “Anugraha” in 1992 without a structure of its own.
As our course became an annual feature in Tamilnadu, we looked for a separate location connected with bus and train routes. Dindigul at Sirumalai Foothills was found ideal, central and climate wise fine. We spotted a land ten kilometres away from Dindigul on Natham Highway. Two priests of Trichy diocese volunteered to pay the cost of the land of six acres. The province contributed its mite to buy another five acres of land adjacent to the first purchase.
We constructed our Counselling Institute the first of its kind in India by its focus on personal growth, professional proficiency, and community building, the last of which directly flows from the Franciscan brotherhood in joyfulness. We blessed and opened this centre on November 5, 2001. We shifted the course to this third and final place in August 2002. We have adequate infrastructure for learning, experience, and blooming.
These years, Anugraha sees an efflorescence in all spheres of activities and the flowering of creative urges of our staff. Having made significant strides in counselling field, Anugraha is expanding its horizon by offering a multitude of courses and seminars relevant to counselling.
We get candidates from all over India. We have trained 590 persons over these 14 years. Thousands from all over India have attended our various seminars and workshops. Anugraha building has more than 100 self-contained rooms and every room can also comfortably accommodate two persons when needed. But we limit accommodation to sixty persons at a time. It is our permanent edifice for our special ministry of counselling.
Sensitivity: We appreciate and respect the diversity and cultural differences of our students and clients. We consider the many multidimensional aspects of their lives. We strive to provide services that reflect the context of clients’ health-related behaviours and needs and to do so in a sensitive and caring manner.
Empathy: We strive to identify with our clients’ situations and to have a sense of their feelings and emotions related to their needs. Offering a high level of empathy enhances trust and the quality of care that our clients deserve.
Resources: We believe that solicitation and prudent utilisation of resources are essential to providing effective behavioural healthcare to our clients. We continually seek appropriate resources to meet our clients’ needs.
Virtue: We assist clients in determining what is right or wrong for them and what works or does not work for them (prudence). We uphold clients’ rights and advocate for their justice. We encourage clients to remain steadfast in their recovery (fortitude). We help clients achieve a healthy balance between legitimate needs and inordinate wants (temperance).
Integrity: We strongly uphold moral and ethical principles in our daily practise and in the delivery of services. Our clients entrust their wellness to our professional care and expect to be treated and receive treatment in a manner that honours professional codes and standards.
Caring, concern, and compassion: we embrace and uphold these attributes throughout our practise of service, as our clients’ well-being is foremost in the minds and hearts of everyone associated with Anugraha.
Environment: We value our clients’ well-being and strive to provide a professional and friendly atmosphere in which they feel welcome and trusting, an environment conducive to the sensitive nature of their needs and to the settings in which our professionals provide treatment to meet those needs.
Knowledge: Students will demonstrate appropriate breadth and depth of knowledge and comprehension in the areas of culturally relevant service, prevention, treatment, referral, and programme management associated with the broader field of counselling as well as the selected specialty.
Clinical Skills: Students will demonstrate meaningful therapeutic alliances that utilise culturally sensitive appraisal and assessment techniques for working with individuals and groups in a culturally pluralistic world.
Research and Appraisal: Students will demonstrate analytical knowledge and skills for appraising and contributing to professional counselling literature and programme evaluation in selected specialty areas (i.e., mental health or school counselling).
Professional Dispositions: Students will conduct themselves in accordance with the highest ethical standards and values of professional counselling and develop an understanding of themselves and their use in the counselling process.
Specialty Areas: Students will demonstrate appropriate breadths and depths of knowledge and skills in their respective specialty areas (i.e., mental health or school counselling).
Vision
To nurture compassionate and skilled counselors who transform lives with empathy, innovation, and ethical excellence. We envision a future where mental health professionals inspire hope, foster resilience, and create lasting well-being in diverse communities
Mission
Anugraha Counselor Training Institute is dedicated to empowering aspiring counselors with a holistic, evidence-based education that integrates knowledge, practical skills, and ethical integrity. Through mentorship, hands-on training, and continuous professional growth, we cultivate leaders who bring healing, understanding, and positive change to individuals and communities.
Overview of Anugraha Activities
We are happy to register the following achievements, through which we are furthering our mission:
- We have developed a coherent and progressive set of training courses in psychotherapy and counselling.
- We have constructed the necessary substructure in Anugraha, giving our students a spacious and functional training centre. We continue to improve our premises and facilities.
- We have also established programmes of weekend and midweek seminars, making psychotherapy principles and skills available to a wider professional audience.
- We intend to build upon, extend, and expand these achievements in the coming years.
- From the very beginning, Anugraha Psychotherapy Training Institute has maintained a solid foundation in clinical work. Indeed, all the Institute trainers are well trained and grounded in their own therapy practises.
Programmes in counselling and psychotherapy are designed for:
- everyone interested in learning counselling skills;
- all those interested in personal growth and want to make a contribution by helping others;
- professionals, including administrators, teachers, counsellors, social workers, nurses, and doctors, who want to enhance their skills and add more techniques to their practises;
- all who are currently psychotherapists and want to deepen their knowledge and skills in the field.
The overall aims and objectives of this programme are:
- to develop the competence of students in their ability to act in a professional counselling role with an individual client through the acquisition of counselling skills and a theoretical framework in which they are able to make sense of the phenomena presented to and experienced by them when with a client;
- to provide students with a view of counselling within a wider context so that they can better assert themselves as counsellors with both their colleagues and their surrounding working community, presenting a professional and responsible attitude towards their work;
- to help students develop their own internal authority for their work, a critical understanding of the theoretical framework they may adopt, and an understanding of why they adopt it;
- to develop the student’s competence as a counsellor with a wide range of clients.
