Psychological Strength for Our Soldiers: RRU’s Revolutionary Training for JCOs
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Psychological Counselling Training Programme Launched by Rashtriya Raksha University for Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs)
Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India: By means of its School of Behavioural Sciences and Forensic Investigations (SBSFI), Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) has announced the beginning of a thorough one-month training programme meant to improve the psychological counselling capacity of Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) from the Eastern Command of the Indian Army. This program is meant to give JCOs the tools they need to help their subordinates and peers with mental health issues, therefore promoting psychological resilience inside their departments. 
Starting on September 19, 2024, the training course will last until October 22, 2024. Fifteen JCOs from Eastern Command are involved and it is being carried out at RRU’s modern facilities in Gandhinagar. These police will be equipped to provide psychological counselling, therefore ensuring their readiness to manage the mental health issues military members experience.
Why is this training program so vital?
The growing need for mental health support among military ranks emphasises the requirement of efficient psychological counselling. Operational readiness depends much on mental health, hence this training is meant to meet the increasing psychological needs of troops. By concentrating on mental health assistance, JCOs may help their units to be generally healthy and guarantee that troops are more suited to control stress, trauma, and other emotional difficulties that develop during duty.
Main Goals of the Program
- Improving JCOs’ psychological skills in a military environment is the main objective of this training course. Among them are:
- Emphasising stress management, trauma rehabilitation, and communication techniques especially pertinent to military environments, JCOs will be taught basic psychological principles.
- Active listening, empathy development, and crisis intervention techniques—among other skills fit for military personnel—will be taught to the officers.
- The initiative seeks to increase knowledge among troops about prevalent mental health problems as well as how JCOs could be rather important in spotting and treating these problems.
- By use of role-playing, seminars, and case studies, participants will hone their counselling abilities in simulated contexts mirroring actual military conditions.
- Encouragement of peer-to-peer therapy and support helps the program to create a supportive mental health culture inside military branches.
- Psychological challenges help to improve the general operational preparedness of soldiers by means of training.
- Highlights of Curriculum
- Highly seasoned SBSFI faculty members from RRU who specialise in cognitive psychology, crisis management, interpersonal skills, and suicide prevention run the training program. The course addresses numerous crucial topics:
- Psychological Assessment Instruments: Instruction in the use of several screening instruments to assess troops’ mental health issues.
- Strategies for properly handling psychological problems that could develop during military duty.
- Group Dynamics: Knowing how military unit group behaviour could affect individual mental health and how to handle these dynamics.
- Examining ethical conundrums that could develop during counselling sessions and discussing responsible handling of them.
Anticipated Resultances
By the end of the one-month training course, JCOs are supposed to:
- Get comfortable offering their fellow troops psychological help.
- Learn more about the mental health issues particular to military life.
- Add psychological insights into their jobs as commanding officers to strengthen their leadership abilities.
- Apart from helping JCOs in supporting their peers, the training will improve their own emotional resilience and leadership skills, so enabling them to participate more successfully to their departments.
Promoting Military Mental Health Consciousness
In terms of including psychological counselling in military operations—where mental health has hitherto been disregarded—this program marks a major advance. RRU wants to establish a support structure inside the ranks by including JCOs in the counselling process so that troops may access mental health resources when most needed.
Work between RRU and the Indian Army
This cooperation between the SBSFI of RRU and the Eastern Command of the Indian Army indicates a vital attempt to enhance troops’ psychological resilience. The course is meant to provide JCOs with a strong awareness of mental health problems so they may help their colleagues properly.
Through funding this program, RRU strengthens its dedication to assisting the Indian Armed Forces with creative educational projects tackling modern issues, including the increasing demand for mental health support. By giving mental health first priority, this program not only seeks to raise the welfare of individual soldiers but also increase military operational effectiveness.
The mental health capacity of the Indian Army should benefit long-term from this training program, therefore promoting a culture where psychological health is appreciated and promoted at all levels.