By Gisel Erumachadathu
Ulhasnagar, July 24, 2020: As the Covid-19 pandemic brings far-reaching implications globally, the members of Ancillae (Handmaid) Secular Institute more than ever are compelled to make their “Apostolate of Presence’ relevant to the needy.
While Ancillae communities are at the service of the people in various ways, Marykutty Michael at Ulhasnagar, near Mumbai, is setting trends for reaching out during pandemic by her tele-counselling initiatives.
Michael is a well-known counsellor who has rendered her service in the diocese of Kalyan for the past 20 years. She is one of the senior members of our institute. Her method of helping people is integral and aims at not just helping an individual but the microsystem closest to the person and the one the person’s direct contact. This makes Michael’s service with a psycho-spiritual approach more family oriented.
“While dealing with human minds and its concerns it isn’t enough to have just clinical approach or for that matter spiritual approach alone. For a lasting impact and sustenance we are to see the whole of individual with all of his/her faculties… of intellect, emotions and belief systems” says Michael.
She finds her service more relevant and in demand during the pandemic outbreak. “Before the Covid outbreak it was the traditional approach of interacting with the client in person. Today with social distancing norms in place telecounseling has gained rapid momentum and counselling have moved online,” she says.
She says the technology offers many possibilities and opportunities and she is happy to make the best use of it. “It allows me to reach out and provide counselling services to a much larger pool of clients and their families and does not restrict to any geography or location.”
Flexibility in scheduling, saving time on commute, less expensive, comfort in familiar settings, non-judgemental and safe environment are some benefits of virtual counselling. Technological glitches occur at times such as internet connection strength, but they can be managed, she says.
According to Michael the biggest concern of the present scenario is fear and anxiety. She says the number of people coming to her has increased. They come with hopelessness and guilt-feelings as well. Perhaps the pandemic is leading people to a tendency of over assessment of self and the purpose of life.
In these unprecedented times, it is of utmost importance that one is able to overcome these hurdles and face life with hope and courage. One of the things she stresses is the integrity of the therapeutic relationship.
Being a consecrated person in the Catholic Church, counselling is not a mere service for Michael but a ministry that enable her to encounter Christ in a day to day basis.
“There are couple of international clients for whom I have to be available late in the evenings due to the differences in time zones. However I feel fulfilled and cherish every opportunity to be at the service of my people” Michael says. Themost satisfactory aspect of her ministry is that “the sense of being productive and being wanted by the people.”
For her the experience of online counselling is a positive one and she suggests that since social distancing norms are going to be around for the next few months it’s time for us to adopt technology and move on to newer ways of providing and seeking counselling support.
The Covid pandemic has created new norms of social behavior for networking and connecting with each other and therefore anyone out there seeking help need not hesitate to reach out to your counsellor or therapist and get connected online.
The Ancillae Secular Institute is a group of consecrated life of women in the Church. It was founded in 1946 by Maria Radlmair in the diocese of Ausburg, Germany, and was canonically established as a Secular Institute of Pontifical right in 1971. The institute takes its name Ancillae from Mary’s word of consent “Ecce Ancillae Domini” (I am the handmaid of the Lord).
The members are called Ancillae (handmaid) and they seek to live their consecration in the world through the profession of the evangelical counsels. Following a secular life style and having no external signs of a consecrated person the Ancillae members strive to harmonize their consecration with secularity, so that they sanctify the world from within.