Mumbai edu body brings mental health to school, college campuses

Students at Sathaye College on Day 1 of reopening on October 20. The plan will be rolled out on campuses after the Diwali vacation. File/Pic

As collegians are back on campus after a prolonged gap, dealing with their psychological issues is as important as helping them cope with the loss of academics and other developmental events. Considering how new mental health is and the lack of teachers' familiarity with the new batch, neither students nor teachers will be able to effectively identify such issues. Considering the situation, the office of the Joint Director of Higher Education in Mumbai has prepared a plan of action - Unlocking Normalcy.

The idea is to empower colleges and students to identify behaviours indicating psychological issues and not dismiss them as just personality traits. Individuals will be helped to deal with problems, the process of which would include an introduction to self-care techniques for marginal issues to expert intervention for severe issues. The key purpose of the programme is to initiate students' dialogue among themselves and with teachers on psychological issues and create a safe space for communication to resolve most matters. The program will be launched after Diwali vacation.

Joint Director, higher education, Mumbai, Dr Sonali Rode, said, "We all know how important our college days were and how they developed our personalities. Today's collegians are missing out on those learning curves. With them returning to campus, colleges are certainly preparing to provide them with a safe space. Along with lost academics, it is also important to help them with the lost psychological development or deal with psychological difficulties. Hence, ‘Unlocking Normalcy' has been created to deal with psychological problems post-Covid-19." The plan includes lectures for students and staff. According to Dr. Rode, owing to their restricted social lives, youngsters are likely to face troubles getting back to normalcy and could face adversities.

"Creating awareness is important rather than dismissing the need for such assistance on campus. Instead of just assuming that a fellow student is an introvert because they don't talk or participate in group activities, it is important to know if they are facing social anxiety. The programme aims to enable an atmosphere where students and teachers can understand who is facing trouble and extend a helping hand," said Dr. Rode, who also belongs to the psychology background. While the initial approach is to create awareness through talks by experts, where required, professional intervention will also be provided through continuous dialogue with colleges.

Make it continuous

Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty said, "This step will begin a dialogue on mental health and psychological issues on campus. It needs to be a continuous process, going beyond one program. Centres for mental health have to be created at cluster levels in colleges. As collegians are integrated back to normalcy, it is important to help them build resilience. Most of us have faced financial or job losses, loss of family members or loved ones, loss of love, among others. When all these psychological issues are prevalent, academics can be cut to deal with them."

To identify psychological issues, Dr Shetty said one must watch out for five changes in behaviours, "Extremely withdrawn or extremely agitated, absenteeism, excessive clinging to the teacher, excessive anger toward each other, absolute indifference to the entire society."