NIMHANS consultative meeting on strengthening student mental health support systems in campuses 

The consultative meeting, held as part of a multi-state National Health Research Priority project initiated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), focussed on engaging youth as active collaborators and agents of change to start conversations on mental health, destigmatise reaching out for help when in distress, engage in supportive interactions with peers in distress and facilitate help seeking through appropriate sources.

To co-develop a comprehensive campus-based model for suicide risk reduction and strengthening support systems for mental health, NIMHANS organised a consultative meeting on student mental health on Tuesday.

The consultative meeting, held as part of a multi-state National Health Research Priority project initiated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), focussed on engaging youth as active collaborators and agents of change to start conversations on mental health, destigmatise reaching out for help when in distress, engage in supportive interactions with peers in distress and facilitate help seeking through appropriate sources.

To be done through sensitisation and training of stakeholders including teachers and leaders in campuses, the consultative meeting involved training of teachers for early identification of students in distress, providing and mobilising first line support and appropriate referrals as per need. Dissemination of self -help resources for students to use in online and offline formats as per their needs and preferences was also touched upon.

NIMHANS director Pratima Murthy highlighted the challenges and pressures experienced by the youth in this era. She emphasized on the need for collaborative efforts, sharing of insights and mutual learning across campuses, reiterating the need for a strengths-based approach as well as measures to enhance mental health support for students in need.

The participants included about 125 administrative heads of schools, pre-university colleges from 90 educational campuses, including government, aided and private institutions, with representation of a range of disciplines at higher education levels such as arts, science, commerce, engineering, pharmacy, medicine, dental, nursing and physiotherapy. 

Seema Mehrotra, Professor of Clinical Psychology at NIMHANS, who is the lead investigator of this project at NIMHANS, said that the project team involves experts across departments at the premier mental health institution who are supporting the implementation, in collaboration with the State Departments of Education and Health. Officials from these departments who are serving as nodal officers for this project participated in this meeting. 

A series of moderated group discussions were held at the school, PU and college levels to identify barriers , potential solutions and enablers for arriving at a scalable and sustainable model for the state of student mental health.