about us
We are a Tata Institute of Social Sciences field action project, focused on providing a range of services. TISS has always sought to address the psychosocial needs of individuals across various groups, and Sukoon is one such step.
Our vision is to provide psycho-social counselling services to individuals, couples and families with matrimonial litigations in legal settings. We endeavour to create a safe space within legal settings focused on individual and relational well-being.
Through our research, we strive to understand individual, familial and marital concerns/stressors as experienced by litigants with matrimonial litigations and consequently develop a model of best counselling practises that can be applied to legal settings across India.
history
impact
litigants served through counselling services
counselling/psychosocial sessions held
participants attended workshops on mental health
centers opened across family courts in Maharashtra
participants interviewed through research surveys
stakeholders from the legal system sensitized
team
research
Sukoon has been conducting research in Family Courts across Maharashtra since its inception. The research focuses on uncovering five major aspects, namely, the socio- demographic details of the litigants and the nature of their legal case; the conflicts experienced by the litigants and their consequent journey to the family court; the impact on the litigant's overall wellbeing; their patterns of help-seeking; and their interactions with the counselling system at Family Courts.
Sukoon's Research team has conducted data collection in six Family Courts in Maharashtra, covering each administrative division of the state. Sukoon's Research Assistants personally speak to the litigants and collect quantitative or qualitative data with the help of a pre-designed questionnaire and an interview schedule. Data is collected in the language the litigants are comfortable in, and complete confidentiality is maintained. The Research Assistants also interview the Family Court counsellors to understand their experiences of working with the legal system, the nature of cases they have worked with as well as the intervention strategies that they use. The cases handled by Sukoon's own counsellors' too, are explored by the research team.
Through data collection with litigants, marriage counsellors and Sukoon counsellors, the research team aims to create a model of psychosocial practices best suited for the Indian context. Research thus builds the counselling services further. As part of research, publications in national and international academia are on the anvil, along with presentations at national and international conferences. One publication is currently underway.