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Chaula Patel is one of the few career counselors
in the city. She graduated in Psychology from
St Xavier's College of Mumbai University, and
followed it with a Masters in Education and Counseling
Psychology. She has been a counselor for the last
16 years.
We spoke to her and asked her the nuances of
the profession.
 As
a career counselor, what activities do you conduct
in schools?
I run career motivational programs for schools,
take student aptitude tests as well as IQ tests
for students of different schools in the city.
How open are schools to the idea of a career
counselor coming to the school and advising their
students?
They are open to the idea of a career counselor
coming to the school as far as the counselor comes
and goes, but few schools are really keen to have
counselors on their staff.
There is a lot of stigma attached to the fact
that one is seeing a counselor. . . Your comments
on the subject.
Lots of awareness and counseling is required
for the people to know what counseling is about.
The term has been misunderstood.
Who do you think needs counseling and how
does it benefit someone who goes through it?
Counseling benefits everyone. People who normally
come for counseling have repeated self-defeating
patterns, they lack motivation and may be emotionally
disturbed. Most of the people who come to me for
counseling have trouble in relationships, communications
and suffer from lack of motivation and low self-esteem.
How does the counselor help the counselor
help a person come to him/her for counseling?
A counselor does not think that the person
is not capable of solving the problem. In a given
event or situation, the person is very emotionally
charged, therefore unable to solve the situation.
 Do
you think career counseling is required for students?
It is essential in my mind, as most parents
and teachers are not equipped with the tools to
adequately inform the students about the various
career options. The reason for this is that there
are so many diverse fields in education, that
it is difficult for one person to keep in touch
with all the diverse fields.
By Rahul Surkund
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