Understanding the mind of the locality
Title of the Practice
Understanding the mind of the locality
Objective of the Practice
- To increase the awareness of psychological changes that occur from childhood to adolescent age.
- To reduce the stigma towards mental illness
- To provide access to mental health facilities free of cost
- To arrange awareness programs for addressing the major issues faced by adolescence: suicide prevention, drug use, relationship issues, mobile- internet addiction
- To provide mental health support for each student
- For the personal and professional development of the students of the department of psychology through direct interaction with the society
- To increase knowledge of students on interdisciplinary approach of mental health and wellbeing
- To increase the exposure of students of the department towards general mental health concerns and therapeutic concerns among the adolescent population
- To address the mental health issues among the society
- To provide awareness of mental health issues and the importance of mental health
- To ensure the proper psychological well-being of each family in the above-mentioned panchayath as a whole
- To familiarize the students of the department with dynamics in various systems and processes of psychological testing
- To practice the management of group- group dynamics, leadership, group cohesiveness
The Department of Psychology is the newly sanctioned integrated program in our institution. Being a department that can provide various kinds of service to society, the department has a keen interest in taking initiatives to give activities within the local areas. It is with that intention they started their service of providing mental health care to the Kumaramputhur Panchayath in Mannarkkad. They extended their service by adopting a school in the panchayath. Their work was fully based on mental health and related issues. Various programs related to this service have been done under the initiative of students and faculties of the Psychology department. Along with the adoption, the department has also undertaken mental health survey and mental health literacy program in the same panchayath. It intends to stretch the service beyond an institution and to provide the benefit to the whole society.
The practice was done on two-level, the first one is on the school and the second is on the panchayath. In the school, the target beneficiaries are students, teachers, and parents. For students, the practice comprises of learning disability assessment camp was conducted, and based on the assessment proper assistance was given to the students. Personality development classes are conducted to boost confidence among students. The practice identified anxiety issues and provided remedies to manage these issues by individual counseling. It conducted sessions to handle issues of exam anxiety, bullying, anger management, psychological changes of teenagers, addiction problems, and menstrual hygiene. For parents, the practice covered classes on various parenting styles and effective management of developmental disorders. For teachers, training sessions on managing differently-abled students and sessions on early detection of pervasive developmental disorder among students.
The second level of this practice was on the panchayath by undertaking mental health survey. It looked into the various mental health issues in society. It gives awareness of the various issues on suicide, drug use, relationship issues, mobile internet addiction, marital, and family issues.
Evidence of Success
The practice was a success because it gave awareness of mental health to the students in school and the local people in kumaramputhur panchayath. In school, the students find it very useful since in the contemporary scenario, they are facing so many psychological issues. They started to identify their individual problems and by attending the sessions, they gained the confidence to solve their own problems. Parents and teachers also found it useful because of the awareness they got from the program.
The survey was a great success because of its reach in the locality. The local people got awareness on various psychological and mental issues prevailed in the society. The practice gave exposure to the students of the Psychology department. They came to know about the different mental health issues in society and among school children.
The practice was among the school children and local community. Even though the practice was successful, it faced certain constraints like the continuous practice of counselling, noncorporation etc. The practice of giving proper mental health was basically based on its continuous monitoring of the affected one. Because of the unavailability of students during the pandemic context, further interaction after the program was done on the online platform. The mentors tried their best to give proper attention to the needy one but the shortage of direct interaction was a hindrance in the way of effective communication. Although the local community respond positively to the mental health survey, on certain occasions there faced obstacles because of the timidness of the people to share their real problems.