VANCOUVER – Dr. Kala Singh, a social activist who has been writing for LINK newspaper on various issues affecting our community, will be honoured with the prestigious Pravasi Rattan Award 2018 for outstanding services, achievements and contributions.
The award will be presented on the occasion of “Global Convention of NRIs” on 19th April, 2018 at British Parliament. Dr. Kala Singh is a medical doctor, born and brought up in Delhi, graduated from Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi, India in 1973. He went to work in Zambia in 1978. He worked in Psychiatry in Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana for 21 years and immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1999 with his family.
In Canada he found that most South Asians are suffering from social issues like domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse, broken marriages, gang violence, elder abuse and mental health problems. They have not been accepting Western counseling and psychotherapy due to cultural reasons. Dr. Singh started incorporating spirituality in Western model of counseling.
This was accepted by South Asian patients. Dr. Singh then devised a new model of counseling “The Sikh Spiritual Model of Counseling”. He presented this model at various International and National conferences which was then published in a medical journal. This is first and only paper of its kind. His work is being quoted by different researchers.
He has lectured on this at various forums, university, national and local TVs, national and local radio stations and news papers. He also started educating South Asians on various social issues by writing articles in local English and Punjabi newspapers and doing live talk shows in local radio stations and TV talk shows. He started counseling families free of cost during weekends.
His work has been discussed in Vancouver Sun newspaper and national CTV. His work has helped in bridging gap between South Asian and Canadian culture. His main compassion is spirituality and mental health. It is because of his efforts many mental health patients and population in general have benefitted to keep up their mental health through spirituality.
He was nominated for “Individual Leadership Award by The City of Vancouver”. He has been honored by different organizations for his work and efforts in promoting spirituality and mental health.
Dr. Kala Singh gives religious and spiritual counseling and psychotherapy to clients with stress and mental health problems. For more information he can be contacted at 604 327 5253
