Domestic violence (DV) fuelled by fractured marital relations and behavioural disorders among children predominantly owing to screen addiction dominate over 400 cases handled by community counsellors of Kudumbashree gender resource centres across Ernakulam for three months since April, 2022.
Alcoholism, hypertension, anxiety, depression, child sexual abuse, teenage-related problems, mental torture, disputes between neighbours, abandonment of parents by children are among the other various issues.
“The main challenge we face in handling DV cases is that the parties often approach our counsellors after exhausting almost all options and when the relation is beyond repair. When a potential reconciliation remains a non-starter even after multiple counselling sessions and divorce becomes inevitable, we help them with legal separation,” said Shine T. Money, District Programme Manager (Gender), Kudumbashree Mission.
Kudumbashree Mission runs gender resource centres in 95 local bodies in the district and has 38 trained community counsellors. Every counsellor is assigned three local bodies each where sittings are held once a week. Majority of the counsellors were resource persons with considerable experience and were drafted in almost eight years back. Since then, they were given a certified course in counselling under Kerala University and training in counselling techniques with the help of various agencies.
Screen addiction
Behavioural disorders and learning disabilities among children owing to screen addiction have emerged as a new-age scourge in the post-pandemic era. The mother of a 15-year-old boy in Kolencherry recently approached a community counsellor after her son smashed her head, furious over her not recharging his mobile data. The boy is now undergoing de-addiction.
“Toxic domestic atmosphere owing to fractured relations between parents also take a toll on children. Rather than taking the right lessons from it, they presume toxicity to be the order thus furthering that cycle of failed families,” said Reshma N.B., a community counsellor.
Often couples resort to divorce in a huff. For instance, a couple was recently on the verge of divorce after the wife found it repulsive that her mother-in-law used the same glass that she used.
“Extramarital affairs also seem to be on the rise with mobile phones being the villain here as well. Instances where the husband or wife approaching us with recordings of voice calls, pictures, or screenshots of chats are not rare,” said Ms. Reshma.
Issues that cannot be resolved at the community counselling level are referred to the Snehitha gender helpdesks of Kudumbashree Mission. “We have arrangements with various agencies and institutions for further reference if need be,” said Mr. Money. Kudumbashree runs a district helpdesk in Kakkanad and a sub centre in Perumbavoor.
