A Talk on Organ Donation and Counselling Grieving Families at The Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health (BALM)

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  Dr. Sumana Navin, Course Director giving an introduction to MOHAN Foundation

  

  Ms. Ann Alex, Programme Associate explaining the concepts of organ donation

  

  Students participating in an activity on counselling

  

  Ms. Sujatha Suriyamoorthi, Manager-Information Systems speaking on Counselling the grieving families

  

  Participants during the session

  

  A participant asking a query on organ distribution

  

  A student delivering the vote of thanks

  

  Dr. Malini Girish, Faculty, MF -Transplant Coordinators' Training Programme being felicitated

  

  The BALM faculty and students along with the MOHAN Foundation team

  The Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health (BALM), Chennai invited MOHAN Foundation for a guest lecture on ‘Organ Donation and Counselling Grieving Families’ on 5^th July 2019. The Foundation was represented by Dr. Sumana Navin, Course Director, Ms. Sujatha Suriyamoorthi, Manager-Information Systems, Ms. Ann Alex, Programme Associate and Dr. Malini Girish, Faculty, Transplant Coordinators’ Training Programme. Around 40 students pursuing their Masters in Applied Psychology were present for the lecture.

  Ms. Bhawna Sharma, Assistant Professor & Academic Coordinator, Department of Applied Psychology, BALM introduced the MOHAN Foundation team to the participants.

  Dr. Sumana Navin introduced the participants to MOHAN Foundation and its journey through the Indian Transplant Newsletter, a publication by MOHAN Foundation.  

  Ms. Ann Alex helped the participants understand the concept of organ donation and transplantation covering brain stem death, causes of brain stem death, the law that governs the donation and transplantation programme in India, living vs deceased organ donation, myths and misconceptions and importance of pledging to be an organ donor. Videos on brain stem death and transplant recipient speaking (hand transplant) were also screened during the talk.     

  Ms. Sujatha Suriyamoorthi began her session on ‘Counselling the grieving families’ with an activity to help the participants understand various stages of grief that anyone goes through during a loss. The participants were narrated the grieving process and different stages of grief. The helpful responses, skills and qualities of a counsellor were also discussed using a few case studies.    

  Some of the interesting questions raised by the students were; the use of donated veins and arteries; is selling organs illegal when both parties are benefitting; organ distribution - are organs being prioritised to the elite; making a will nominating friend(s) as next-of-kin – could they give consent for organ donation. There was also a discussion on informed consent vs presumed consent and should India switch to presumed consent system.   

  After the session, nine participants pledged to be organ donors and picked up their donor cards.

  
  
  Source-Ms. Sujatha Suriyamoorthi & Ms. Ann Alex