MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS – SOCIAL OUTREACH PROGRAM

Target Area- Gurugram

Theme- “Swasth Mann, Swasth Samaj”
“Healthy Mind, Healthy Society”

A brief overview about Mental Health Program

According to the World Health Organization (WHO): “Mental health is a state of well-being in
which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life,
can work productively, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” Mental
health is an integral part of our well-being, positive mental health helps an individual to be
more resilient and act more purposefully & mindfully. As important as it sounds the
stigmas associated with mental health makes it a farfetched notion.
While it is not wrong to say that the prevalence of people suffering from poor mental health is
exponentially rising, the pandemic has made the situation even worse. According to WHO India
2020,

 7.5 per cent Indians suffer from some mental disorder and predicts that by end of this
year roughly 20 per cent of India will suffer from mental illnesses.
 56 million Indians suffer from depression and another 38 million Indians suffer from
anxiety disorders
 India accounts for 36.6 per cent of suicides globally

Covid -19 has further worsened the situation, quite evident from increase rates of suicide,
reported incidence of mental health disorders, abuse etc. across all age groups, gender, socio
economic status etc. All of this has made propagating the need to attend to mental health even
more essential.

For promoting positive mental health and generating awareness regarding mental health
issues at community level we the Psychology Department of IILM University, with support
of Shri Amit Khatri , IAS DC Gurugram, Haryana have envisioned to carry out an inventive
initiative to organize the Community Mental Health Awareness Week Campaign-2020
on “Swasth Mann Swasth Samaj“/ “Healthy Mind, Healthy Society”. This would endeavor to
create positive mental health awareness in and around Gurugram so as to
spread awareness on the need and significance of Mental Health Problems in the society and
help people deal with The Corona Crisis.

Objectives

1. To create Awareness Campaign about Mental Health issues

2. To break the stigmas surrounding mental health by providing adequate information and
to psycho-educate people regarding mental health issues/problem
3. To provide Psychological First Aid like individual or group counseling
4. To promote positive mental health and prevent mental health issues/problem through Yoga
and Meditation
Initiatives Planned –

1. Online surveys – freely accessible tools to be made available for people to assess
their current state of mental health with the possible suggestions of elevating it

2. Mental Health Awareness Program and activities especially designed for

Government education institutes, Senior Citizens and police officials - Virtual Mode

3. Counseling sessions by our esteemed and trained mental health advocates of IILM University

4. Panel Discussions by Mental Health Professionals to deal with variety of issues like –
Economic instability, Improving relationships; Motivating self for the New Normal ; Young
People and Mental Health in a Changing World.

5. Awareness through Slogans in the social community – Message reaching the villages

Anticipated Output-
1) Bringing awareness and scientific understanding of the concept of “mental health”.
2) Reaching out to people through our planned initiatives and sessions within Gurugram
3) Providing a structured intervention to the individuals suffering from individuals isolation,
loneliness and other mental health issues

Proposed Schedule

Day wise
Session Planned
session

1. Inaugural address by Chancellor, IILM University by Dr S Y Quraishi

and Shri Amit Khatri, IAS, DC, Gurugram
(“Relevance of Positive Mental health during Current pandemic
situation”)
Day 1
2. Session By Dr. Sujata Shahi , Vice Chancellor, IILM University
3. Theme of the Mental Health Awareness Campaign by Dr.Abha
Singh Director, Center for Emotional Intelligence
 1. Session by Dr. Abha Singh
Day 2
2. Panel discussion by Mental Health professionals/ expert
1. Mental Health awareness program for Government Educational
Institutions (For Graduating students)
2. Mental Health awareness program for Government Educational
Day 3
Institutions (for Teachers)
*Engaging activities, Online questionnaire and psychological First aid
*Catchy slogans – for advertising

Mental Health awareness program for Police Officials

Day 4 *Engaging activities , Online questionnaire and psychological aid
*Catchy slogans- for advertising

Mental Health awareness program for Senior citizens

Day 5 *Engaging activities , Online questionnaire and psychological aid
*Catchy slogans- for advertising

1. Panel discussion by Mental health professionals/ expert on the

inputs generated from the previous sessions of the awareness
Day 6
programs
2. Concluding Ceremony

Program Layout (Tentative)

Day 1

1. Inaugural address by Chancellor, IILM University by Dr S Y Quraishi and Shri

Amit Khatri, IAS, DC, Gurugram
(“Relevance of Positive Mental health during Current pandemic situation”)
2. Session By Dr. Sujata Shahi , Vice Chancellor, IILM University
3. Theme of the Mental Health Awareness Campaign by Dr. Abha Singh, Director, Center for
Emotional Intelligence
Day 2

1. Session by Prof. (Dr.) Abha Singh on “Mental Health for All through Yoga and Meditation”

Demo sessions can be planned for yoga and meditation

Proposed Programs for Subsequent Days

• “Mental Health Aid Kit for Villages”- Raising awareness (Preventive Care and Intervention)
Through Slogans (Disseminated to the nearby villages)

• Panel Discussions (List of experts – To be Proposed

• Profile of the Moderators/ Team

“Mental Health Aid Kit for Police Officials”

(Preventive Care and Intervention)

Target Population- Police Personnel

Date-
Duration-
Mode of Delivery – Virtual/ Face to Face
Moderators-
Profile of Moderators-
Topics to be covered –
 “How are police officers more susceptible to deteriorating mental health especially”
 Identifying the stressors- Through Online Survey “EXPLORING MENTAL HEALTH
CONDITIONS AMONGST OFFICERS”
 Training Kit (Theme Based Engaging Activities+ 1 Pager Handout with Strategies)

Managing Stress/ Police officer Burnout

Building Resiliency
Emotional Intelligence
Building/ Improving Personality and Behavioural Skills
  Assessing mental health through Freely accessible tools for their reference
 Extending Psychological First Aid

Sources
 Violanti, J. M., Charles, L. E., McCanlies, E., Hartley, T. A., Baughman, P., Andrew, M. E.,
& Burchfiel, C. M. (2017). Police stressors and health: a state-of-the-art review. Policing:
An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management.
 Selokar, D., Nimbarte, S., Ahana, S., Gaidhane, A., & Wagh, V. (2011). Occupational
stress among police personnel of Wardha city, India. The Australasian medical
journal, 4(3), 114.
 Mathur, P. (1994). Role stress in police officers: An exploratory study. Indian Journal of
Criminology, 22(1), 9-14.
 Priyanka, R., Rao, A., Rajesh, G., Shenoy, R., & Pai, B. H. (2016). Work-associated stress
and nicotine dependence among law enforcement personnel in Mangalore, India. Asian
Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 17(2), 829-833.
 Lambert, E. G., Qureshi, H., Frank, J., Klahm, C., & Smith, B. (2018). Job stress, job
involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment and their associations
with job burnout among Indian police officers: A research note. Journal of Police and
Criminal Psychology, 33(2), 85-99.

“Mental Health First Aid Kit for Graduating Students”

(Preventive Care and Intervention)

Target Population- Graduating Students

Date-
Duration-
Mode of Delivery – Virtual/Face to Face
Moderators-
Profile of Moderators-
- Topics to be covered – (Training Kit (Theme Based Engaging Activities+ 1 Pager Handout with
Strategies)

- Identifying, Acknowledging and Managing/ Coping and Preventing Stress

- Managing Anxiety

- EI

- Building Resiliency

- “Hope”- Positive Psychology

- “Optimism”- Positive Psychology

- Dealing with Loneliness and Isolation

- Managing Expectations

*Assessing mental health through freely accessible tools for their reference
*Extending Psychological First Aid

Few Recommendations
1. Slogan can be launched by DC of Gurugram so that villagers can take the issue of mental
illness and health seriously. Then they also value Faculty and Students Team visited from the
University.
2. Slogan should be our theme of Mental Health Awareness Campaign-(MHAC -2020) and all
activities should revolve around the theme.
3. Each village can be assigned to faculty and psychology student’s team.
4. Structured Format should be there to collect instant feedback to compile report.