Sidhika Goenka’s centre, ‘Empowering You’, believes that teaching children to cope with life’s demands will lead to happier families and a healthier society.

Text: Kanishka Ramchandani
Photo credit: Dhiman Chatterjee

If we go by newspaper and television reports, it seems that the inability to cope with the demands of life is claiming increasingly younger victims everyday. Children as young as 10-years-old believe that suicide is the only way out of a stressful or threatening situation. Teenagers also seem to be resorting to violence to solve their problems. Sidhika Goenka believes that teaching children to cope with social issues, to manage anger, and to master social skills is important.

This has led her to open an education centre called ‘Empowering You’ in Kolhapur, where she lives. After completing her Masters in Counselling and Counsellor Education from Indiana University, USA, Sidhika was delighted when she was chosen to teach educational psychology to undergraduate students. She also worked as a resident advisor during her four years there.