ABOUT CRISIS INTERVENTION AND COUNSELING CENTRE (CICC)
The Crisis Intervention and Counseling Centre (CICC) is the first point of contact for a survivor of gender/ sexual violence seeking support at Shakti Shalini. It provides counseling, crisis intervention and rescue support, a helpline service, facilitates shelter, mental/ physical/ sexual and reproductive healthcare, legal counseling and litigation aid, rehabilitation and/ or reintegration, and follow-up.
CICC is equipped to respond to all forms of gender/ sexual violence. It provides services to all survivors irrespective of their gender, sex, and sexual orientation who have experienced or are facing abuse, whether physical, sexual, psycho-emotional, financial, social, or institutional. Survivors reach out to Shakti Shalini from different sources including helpline courts, police-stations, other government bodies, partnering NGOs, website, and social media.
CICC supports survivors across the national territory of India. CICC operates on the principle of individual agency, choice, and dignity.
CICC currently has three operational PAN India helpline numbers for survivors of gender/sexual violence: 011-24373737, 7838957810 (Call/WhatsApp).
WHY COUNSELING?
Counseling has proven to be an extremely effective method of mitigating the suffering of survivors. Each survivor undergoes various levels of counseling at CICC. The frequency, the content, and the duration of the counseling depends on the needs of the individual survivor. The form of counseling is flexible. We prefer counseling in person, however, if the need arises, we conduct counseling over phone calls and pay home visits as well.
Counseling need not be limited to the client. Depending on the case, we, more often than not, include the husband, partner, friends, marital and natal families, and social circles of the client as well, which is called “social mediation”. The aim of counseling is to gauge the nuances of the client’s suffering in order to assist them in creating and implementing an informed plan for relief that is mutual and participatory. All choices and decisions rest entirely with the client concerned.
Our role is of facilitation, not of dictation.
PHYSICAL/ MENTAL/ SEXUAL/ REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE AT CICC
CICC provides pro bono physical/ mental/ sexual/ reproductive healthcare to survivors. Physical healthcare is commonly required for untreated diseases/ conditions/ wounds, malnutrition often suffered by survivors of violence and abuse. Sexual/ reproductive healthcare is often required during pregnancies, for abortions, family planning, and contraception use. Maximum physical, sexual, reproductive healthcare services are provided via government hospitals/ clinics. Occasionally we partner with a private practitioner for pro bono consultation, awareness, or
treatment.
Shakti Shalini supports the full body/ dental/ eye check-up of every survivor residing at our Shelter Home. Consultation, treatment, and medication of survivors is supported pro bono by Shakti Shalini. CICC provides pro bono psychological and psychiatric care to survivors of violence through our formal partnership with SAARTHAK mental health institution as well as individual practitioners. A psychologist, Dr. Shweta Verma, conducts group therapy for residents of the shelter home twice a month. The CICC counselors are supported by SAARTHAK to enhance the therapeutic impact of their counseling sessions with survivors. Various creative art and performance based therapeutic interventions are ongoing amongst the survivors supported by Shakti Shalini.
LEGAL COUNSELING AND AID AT CICC
CICC provides pro bono legal counseling and litigation aid to survivors of gender/ sexual violence through the services of an individual legal practitioners and law based organisations. Advocate Parvez Siddiqui, IProbono, Human Rights Law Network, and CSM (Chakravorty, Samson & Munoth) are Shakti Shalini’s present individual/ organisational legal partners. Shakti Shalini ensures that the legal fees/ honorarium is extended to its legal partners for the support provided to survivors.
REHABILITATION/ REINTEGRATION/ FOLLOW-UP
Rehabilitation/ reintegration at CICC includes the entire process of social mediation (if required) with family members/partners/ friends planning, identifying and facilitating educational / skills development opportunities for survivors, enhancing earning and employment options, supporting with housing and accommodation, travel and communication support for survivors until they are independent and self-sufficient. Rehabilitation/ Reintegration is followed by a minimum one year follow-up of each survivor to ensure that they are safe, healthy, and progressing.