COVID-19 News – Free mental well-being webinars for students across India

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, research has found a broad worsening of mental health indicators among college students in the country. Now, students are facing new, complex challenges such as adapting to distance learning, isolation from peers, concerns about family, health, career and financial security.

St. Mira’s College for Girls, Pune organised a series of mental well-being awareness sessions to address these concerns and help students navigate through this stressful time. The college has been running various programmes to support the student community during the coronavirus global pademic. This series is an extension of the college’s ongoing full time Mental Well-being programme, where students receive both preventive and interventive mental health care.

The webinar series was announced on 23rd April 2020. An online survey was done to assess college students’ mental health concerns during the lockdown. Pooja Jain, the Mental Well-being programme coordinator, St. Mira’s College for Girls said that around 310 students signed up for these sessions from various colleges across the country including students from Trivandrum, Visakhapatnam, Ghaziabad, Patna and various cities and towns of Maharashtra.

The first webinar held on April 25 focused on practical skills and ways to manage anxiety. The second webinar, two days later, was about building healthy social connections with peers and family members. Students felt that the practical insight and conflict resolution skills helped them in improving their relationship with parents and identify unhealthy relationships with peers and social media.

The last webinar in the series focused on holistic well-being and mindfulness. A psychologist demonstrated various mindfulness techniques that students can practise daily, with most students reporting a feeling of relaxation. The college, which lays emphasis on citizen social responsibility, has planned more such seminars in the coming weeks.

“If we want to deal with the impact of this pandemic and build emotionally resilient youth, we need to shift our conversations from Productivity to Self-Care. We have to consciously make mental health a priority for students,” said Jain. Dr Gulshan Gidwani, Principal, St Mira’s College, added: “Human beings have a lot of resilience yet there may be many who may just buckle under. We must try to help them with the burdens they carry, the fears they are battling, by reaching out to them and helping them in any way we can.”

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