In a first, 1 lakh TN cops to attend therapy via webinar

A webinar studio set up in Chennai will be connected to 238 centres across the State to stream lectures and other contents online. On an average, each centre is expected to have 25 participants and nearly 6,000 police personnel would take part every day. As many as six experts in psychotherapy, yoga and counselling would deliver lectures sitting in webinar studio.

This could be the first time a government department is readying for such a big webinar targeting one lakh plus participants, an official noted.

“We hope to bring some change in the outlook of police personnel and that is why we are trying to do it. What is new in the wellness programme is that we are using the technology to reach out to the entire force,” DGP JK Tripathy, head of Tamil Nadu police, said.

The one-day crash course on police-public interface and behaviour therapy will go on till everyone in the police department in the State attend it, an official from the police training school in Chennai said.

The department is ready with the plan a month after the Madras High Court suggested that the Tamil Nadu government come up with ideas like counselling and yoga sessions for police personnel to handle stress during COVID-19 pandemic duties.

A Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) session will be part of the training apart from yoga and counselling lesson, an official noted.

The technical division of the police department is working on ensuring the connectivity at more than 238 centres -- mostly schools and colleges -- selected by district superintendents across the State to for the webinar classes. More number of centres are used because of the need for following COVID-19 protocol, including social distancing. “We will be happy if at least 10 per cent of the participants understand the need for the importance of improving the public-police interface,” another officer noted.