Text Box: Vellore, a district capital in Tamil Nadu, has long been known for its stately fort and temple, renowned hospital and medical college, Parry's factories and the vast government industrial estate in nearby Ranipet. Vellore's history records several dynasties and powers. The Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas, Hoysalas, Sambhurvarayars, Chalukyas, Vijayanagar, Bijapur Sultans, Mughals, Marathas, French and the British have all ruled the area at one point of time or the other. The twenty or more palaces and forts in the district reflect ancient styles and traditions. The most striking of these is the famous Vellore Fort, built in the 16th Century by Chinna Bommi Nayak of Vijayanagar. The fort was declared a national monument in 1992. Vellore is a town with a population over 500000 & is situated 150kms west of Chennai, South India. It has a glorious History with successive Hindu, Muslim & British Rulers before the Independence of India.The town of Vellore is known the world over for the Christian Medical College and Hospital.

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Christian Counselling Centre

Text Box: The Christian Counselling Centre, Vellore is a pioneering institute in the field of human relations, psychological counselling and psychotherapy. Started in 1970 as a non-profit ecumenical educational institution, its mission is the development of human resources. The Centre caters to the needs of people of all social and religious backgrounds in three ways - training, counselling services and research. Throughout the year, the Centre is a beehive of activity with a variety of residential courses lasting, one week, two weeks, four weeks, eight weeks, and 12 months. The Centre also runs a non-residential out-patient clinic with counselling services.

A unique aspect of CCC is its focus on society. Counselling is seen as a tool with great potential for social change. As a result, the Centre has worked closely with the Central, State Governments and the Church. Various governmental departments, including those of Social Welfare and Social Defence, and church related bodies have used the Centre extensively as a resource for the training of personnel. So have various other organisations, corporate bodies, NGOs and educational institutions. Over the last forty years, the Centre has attracted over 40,000 trainees in all, spanning 26 nations of the world and 28 States of India.

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Association for Psychological Counselling

The Association for Psychological Counselling (APC) is a society dedicated to preserve and promote the total well being of the citizens of India, and to establish and define standards and guidelines for counselling services. It also aims at providing counselling services, training, research and interaction between various counsellors.

The APC is a close associate of the Christian Counselling Centre (CCC), Vellore. The main office of the APC is located on the CCC campus.

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Conference Theme

Our world today is beset with violence, terror and ecological decadence. We as Psychologists, Counsellors, Educators, and Helping professionals need to take the challenge to bring about non-violent social change, and sensitivity to protect our ecosystem. No change is possible without guaranteeing gender justice, social responsibilities, ecological sensitivity, and spiritual maturity to bring about wholistic growth of all human beings. Hence it is but imperative to consider the great task of bringing about social change in a non violent and life engendering manner. No wonder we at CCC regard this theme "Counselling as a Tool for Non-violent Social Change " holding infinite potential for reflection, research, and action. This theme invites us also to look at other subsidiary areas related to social change in a very dynamic and promising way utilizing the powerful potential of helping professionals. The conference calls on teachers, counsellors, and other mental health professionals to reflect seriously on the destructive forces prevalent in our society and to counteract them with the power of non violence.

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The Thrust Areas of the Conference

Counselling as a Tool for Non-violent Social Change in a holistic frame work

Participants interested in presenting papers are requested to send the ABSTRACT of their papers (200 words) by August 10^th 2010, the latest, in soft and hard copy. The abstract must include Title, Authors(s) and institutional affiliation. The text of the abstract should start from a fresh line and state the Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions clearly in paragraph.

Participants are requested to send their full length paper in both soft and hard copies by 15^th September, 2010. The soft copy of the paper is compulsory and must be typed in MS Word format in CD. The hard copy of the paper should accompany Demand Draft of Registration Fees drawn in favour of "Organising Secretary, ICCTNSC-2011, Institute for Human Relations, Couselling and Psychotherapy, Christian Couselling Centre, and Vellore". Selection of the paper for presentation rests entirely with the organizers. Only selected full-length papers will be published in the proceedings of the conference.

The registration fee includes food, refreshments and conference kit. The registration fee does not include expenses of accommodation. For details regarding accommodation please visit our website. The DD must be drawn in Favour of "The Director, Christian Counselling Center, Vellore". The Participants are requested to send the filled registration form with DD to reach here on 30^th September, 2010 by post/courier. Intimation about the participation should be sent by E-mail at the earliest possible.