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Vidhi Seva Evam Samajik Utthan Samiti has successfully organized its third webinar on the Topic “Right to Mental Health: A growing Human right jurisprudence”. The program was attended by more than 100 students. With the coronavirus pandemic still accelerating, impacting lives and livelihoods and causing fear and anxiety among people, it becomes really important to pay a greater attention to mental health because the situation in the country is somewhere or the other affecting our mental Health at extreme. The current condition and its effect on human lives makes it imperative to organize awareness program to highlight the importance of mental Health in all section of the society.
It is a very sensitive topic and hence, we invited the experts to speak. The event was started by Ms. Swetha Dutt, Co-Founder of PRAAN FOUNDATION which is a community of likeminded individuals who have come together to create a positive impact in the world of mental health through collaborative efforts. They aim to take a multidimensional approach to address mental health and emotional wellbeing issues, and positively influence the community on the importance of it. The focal point of her lecture centered on how people tend to ignore the problem because they are usually not aware of the symptoms. She made a point that in these challenging times, we must work towards providing a comprehensive, integrated and responsive mental health and social-care services in community-based settings in order to create awareness regarding importance of emotional and mental well-being. She gave the example that for any physical injury we seek help of the doctor, in the same way when there is emotional breakdown and it starts affecting mental health then, one shouldn’t hesitate in consulting the expert of concerned field.
The program was taken forward by the Ms. Spandana Kommuri, Senior Counselor of PRAAN FOUNDATION. She made students involved while delivering her lecture. As a counselor she tried to understand the behavior of students by putting them into various hypothetical situations. She said nobody knew about this situation and now when we all have to be at home, we are no longer in constant touch with our support system and it is ultimately affecting our minds. She mentioned three indicators of stress and anxiety which are physical (aches and pain, fatigue, change in appetite), behaviour (isolation, aggression, short temper, impulsiveness),emotional (constant worry, frequent lapse of memory, constant negative thoughts). She said we shouldn’t ignore such indicators and must try to get help. She mentioned “YOU CAN’T CONTROL WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU BUT, YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR REACTION TO IT”. She added, in the case of physical injury, at the very first instance we go for first aid, in the same manner it is very apposite to have an emotional first aid kit which would help in emotional breakdown. It could be used as writing thoughts, eating healthy, deep sleep, being grateful, etc. lastly she entertained all the questions of the participants and also provided a helpline number(9595-280-280) to approach in case any help needed in future.
The session was concluded by Ms. Nimrit Kaur, Assistant Professor of Law, Graphic Era Hill University, Dehradun. It was so good to have her on our virtual platform. She started her session with all the positive energy within her. She has got great understanding in the area of mental health as she has been constantly involved in research on this issue. She explained various theories related to Mental Health. She spoke on how we can manage to have a healthy and positive mind. She was positive on the point that yoga and meditation could be an antidote to mental illness. She mentioned as self-isolation escalates and people find themselves working from home and unable to physically catch up with their friends and family, we’re likely to see more people feel lonely and disconnected. We spend most of our times on laptops and phones which are an unnatural way divert our minds. She said instead of that we should adopt yoga and meditation in our life to make our mind function better. Exercise has always been a great strategy for people struggling with these feelings as it boosts both mood and health. But as gyms and exercise classes of all kinds are now closed, even jogging is strongly discouraged – people are looking for alternatives, and this is where meditation and yoga can help. She added yoga improves range of mental health conditions including anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and major depression. At the end of her lecture she conducted 15 minutes meditation session which brought a different experience to the participants.
I, on the behalf of the entire team extend my thanks to all the speakers for joining the virtual platform of “Vidhi Seva Evam Samajik Utthan Samiti”.
Thank You.
By,
Priyanka Singh
LLM(National Law University, Odisha)
