Knitting Reliable relationships for Life Skills Empowerment beneficiaries

Trainer discussing with the beneficiaries

“You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.”

-Epicurus

In 21^st century, making friends is just a matter of a click. However what is challenging among today’s youth is the endurance to maintain it and survive through difficult times in a relationship. The Life Skills Empowerment Project at Mumbai Smiles aims to train community adolescent girls to develop a holistic empowering personality which can stand against injustice. As a part of this project a group counseling session was organized for the 30 girls in the community on ‘Relationship Management’ by a trained psychologist Ms. Dhvani Toprani. The main objective of the session was to discuss the various issues that the girls face in their social relationships with friends, families and romantic relationships. The session provided them a safe platform to discuss and channelize their behavior. The session covered the following sub topics:

• the importance of Social relationships
• components of social relationship
• managing the components of social relationships
• safety in social relationships
• sources of help and guidance to deal with relationship stress

The session focused at deconstructing the commonly held stereotypes about relationships and construct a stronger belief system. One of the girls said “heart once broken cannot be mended”. The session assisted to reconstruct this irrational belief that often leads to unhealthy mental health among adolescents. The members and the facilitator discussed these beliefs and helped the girls to think differently about relationships, which is healthier for their development. Hence the session overall aimed at developing favorable thought processes to deal with social relationships.

The girls at the end commented that the session helped them to understand that every relationship needs to be given time and trust to sustain. They were very happy to have an opportunity to discuss such issues at ease with someone reliable.

We hope to keep supporting the girls with the kind of needs that emerge, as they are growing.

beneficiaries attending the session

Trainer explaining the components of ‘Social relationship’