Nov 27, 2018 / Educational institution

#BreakTheStigma – R U OK? Seminar – Mental Health on Techno India students’ agenda

Kolkata, November 27th, 2018 – What does the youth of today think about mental wellness? Do they ask for help when they need it? These and many other questions were explored and answered at #BreakTheStigma – R U OK?

– a two-day mental wellness seminar at Techno India University, conducted by Caring Minds. The seminar began with a welcome address by Meghdut Roy Chowdhury, Director of Global Operations, Techno India Group. Preeyam Budhia, President, Business Development, Patton Group and Manoshi Roy Chowdhury, Co-Chairman, Techno India Group delivered keynote addresses. Minu Budhia, Founder-Director, Caring Minds, was present to grace the occasion. The vote of thanks was delivered by Pauline Laravoire, Sustainability Director, Techno India Group. The seminar included:

• Three workshops – Technology Addiction, Relationships 2020, and Building Self-Esteem & Confidence
• A debate – It’s Getting Harder and Harder to Have a Real Conversation
• A panel discussion – #BreakTheStigma with panelists Alokananda Roy, (Dance Movement Therapist & Social Activist), Soumi Banerjee, (Life Coach), Joyita (Principal, Techno India Group Public School), Sugandha Ram Kumar (Principal, ICanFlyy) and Monideepa Nandi (Academic Head, ICanFlyy).

On day one, the eminent panel discussed how stigma is a barrier to individual and social progress and how to break the stigma. They covered a variety of experiences – working with incarcerated adult criminals, their families, juvenile offenders, life coaching surgery patients, breaking the stigma that follows special needs individuals wherever they go, and stereotypes and misconceptions about special educators. The heated debated was won by the team for the motion. Next up, the Technology Addition workshop explored Tech Savvy vs Tech Addict, productive apps vs time-wasters, a seven-day de-addiction challenge, and tips to overcome technology addiction.

Day two began with the Relationships 2020 workshop. This session discussed familial, romantic, social, and work-related relationships. Students mentioned estranged relationships with parents and challenging romantic relationships. An interactive workshop, students used tips and exercised to learn how to build and maintain healthy relationships. The final workshop, Building Self-Esteem & Confidence, focused on a better understanding of one’s self and improving ones’ self-worth. The session saw students opening up about their insecurities stemming from their socio-economic backgrounds, their lack of self-esteem, thoughts on suicide, and their desire to boost their self confidence.

Seeing the positive, warm response of the students, Techno India and Caring Minds will be conducting additional workshops in the near future. The students of Techno India University have also taken a pledge to take this forward by developing an Artificially Intelligent chat-bot to serve as a 24×7 support system for their peers.