SCE Weekly Talk Series Webinar on “Mental Health of Students During Covid-19”
Thriving in Adversity: Giving In without Giving Up
“Mental health is something that we all need to talk about, and we need to take the stigma away from it. So let’s raise awareness. Let’s let everybody know it’s OK to have a mental illness and addiction problem.” — Demi Lovato
Mental health is evenly as crucial as physical health. Although we often can’t see it with our bare eyes, a mental health problem can cause serious damage to a person’s life and well-being. The World Health Organization estimates that close to 20%, or one in five students, are actively dealing with mental health issues. To spread mental health awareness among the students, the School of Commerce and Economics, KIIT-DU organized a webinar on the topic “Mental Health of Students during Covid-19” on 20th May 2021. It aimed to encourage and motivate students to cope with the mental illness and mental stigma during this tough Covid-19 scenario.
Dr. Shubhangi Goswami, Clinical Psychologist and Senior Research Fellow at IIT Kharagpur, graced the webinar as the Keynote Speaker. Dr. Goswami emphasized how students can calculate their mental health status through a questionnaire. She also focused on explaining how the various physical, psychological, social and economical resources available with human beings can be utilized to improve mental health problems. She advised about some mental health exercises and real life solutions to come out of mental stigma and live a happy life.
Prof. Jayanta Kumar Parida, Director, School of Commerce & Economics spoke about the importance of mental fitness and mental well-being to face the Covid-19 challenges. By sharing his real life experiences, he motivated and encouraged students to lead a happy and stress free life.
The webinar concluded with an engaging Q&A session where Dr. Goswami answered various questions on mental health posed by students and offered tips to solve those challenges. On behalf of the entire KSCE family, the vote of thanks was proposed by Prof. Jayanta Kumar Parida. Faculty members, staff and students from different schools of KIIT and outside KIIT participated in large numbers and availed the benefit of learning about mental health issues and ways to solve them.