-Penpa Tsering
“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking”
I came from Tibet when I was six years old. I studied at Tibetan Children’s Village Schools (Upper Dharamsala and Gopalpur) and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Delhi University. My school life was quite hard, especially during the Winter vacation when most children leave for vacation to spend time with their family and relatives. I remember feeling lonely and envious of such children. To compensate for the lack of financial support, I networked with children of my age group with a similar background as me, pool together our oversized and extra shoes and clothes, and used to sell those to earn pocket money. My school life, however, took an ugly turn when I was drawn to substance use and became addicted to it. Undoubtedly, both my health and studies were affected.
I wanted to study Commerce and become a businessman but my addiction got better of me and I had to seek treatment for my drug addiction with the help of Tibetan Children’s Village authorities. My stint at the Rehabilitation Centre made me a changed person. Not only did I become sober, but also stronger as a person and my emotional intelligence improved. My ability to love others, embrace my potentials and quit drug abuse were the takeaways from the Rehabilitation Centre. I decided to pursue a Bachelor’s in Psychology at Delhi University instead and study human psychology. I completed the course in 2019 and planned to continue for a Masters in Clinical Psychology and become a De-addiction Psychologist. However, I was restrained to do so due to lack of financial support. It is then I decided to take a one-year break and chose to volunteer (since November 2019) at Kunphen Recovery Centre, a Centre which helps people recover from drug or alcohol addiction.
At Kunphen Recovery Centre, I taught classes for Rehab patients based on their need such as ‘Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Addictive behaviours,’ for eight weeks. Being a former addict myself, I can understand the withdrawal symptoms of the patients better and how to deal with them patiently and with compassion. In the process, I feel I have become more tolerant, confident and disciplined. I have developed a good habit of waking up early, do exercises and meditation. I am learning a lot of practical knowledge from the patients here at Kunphen about human Psychology, human behaviours and as a result, the urge to pursue my interest in becoming a De-Addiction Psychologist is getting stronger. I am also pursuing ‘Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development’ from IGNOU.
I am thankful for Empowering the Vision Project for supporting me through their fellowship program.