i2u and FairGaze successfully engage 5000+ school students across India in the World Mental Health Day Campaign

News | New Delhi, Friday , 29 October 2021

Summary: i2u Social Foundation, in association with FairGaze, organized a World Mental Health Day Campaign that saw active engagements from 5,000+ school students across India. The campaign was marked by the presence of esteemed experts, who came together to talk about the importance of destigmatizing mental health. Along with sharing their experience on mental wellbeing, the experts also announced the winners of the month-long campaign

Advocating against the social stigma associated with mental health issues, i2u Social Foundation and FairGaze organized a month-long World Mental Health Day Campaign that saw active engagement of more than 5,000+ school students across India. The campaign was marked by the presence of a panel of esteemed experts, who came together to share their experience on mental wellbeing among the youth. Alongside talking about the importance of destigmatizing mental health issues, the experts also announced the winners of the campaign launched on the occasion of the World Mental Health Day by i2u, an NGO support ecosystem created to assist companies in fulfilling their CSR initiatives by working with verified NGOs, in association with FairGaze- the leading school media and an engagement ecosystem for holistic development.

i2u Social Foundation has been an active proponent of mental health awareness. Coinciding with their vision surrounding the same, the #OneDayForMentalHealth campaign had an all women-led panel of experts, who shared their viewpoint on destigmatizing mental health issues. The panel consisted of experts active in fields like mental health, psychology and education. The discussion delved deep into exploring various themes of what parents, teachers, and society can do to help young students and youth prioritize their mental health.

The World Mental Health Day campaign concluded with the winner announcement ceremony, wherein esteemed panellists shared important pointers with the audience. The panellists included Dr. Ragini Kaul (principal, Maxfort school), Ms. Aditi Srivastav (senior teacher, Transcendental Meditation), Mrs. Anita Sharma (principal, S.D. Public School), Dr. Tayzn Rehman (NLP specialist and a Cancer warrior), Dr. Bhavna Chadha (Neuro Clinical Psychologist), and Dr. Madhumati Singh (Child Psychologist and Director at FairGaze). Dr. Madhumati also moderated the session.

Dr. Ragini Kaul shared her thoughts on the effect of mental pressure generated by attending external coaching, along with maintaining a busy school life. She added, “School plays a vital role in reducing the pressure as these are the foundation years where a child develops various skills, develops a personality to forge ahead.”

Delving into a deep discussion about the impact of a good schooling experience on a child’s mind, she elaborated how the values inculcated by school impacts the life of a student beyond their schooling years well into their adult lives. She encouraged parents to instill their faith back into schools and give up on the idea of coaching centres being a necessity to succeed in a career.

Laying stress on positive reinforcement technique, Dr. Madhumati Singh expressed the urgency to make PTMs an encouraging session for kids, where teachers and parents discuss the child’s strong points, encouraging them to grow, instead of belittling them for their weaknesses.

Rightly pointing out the increased pressure on students to do exceptionally well, Ms. Aditi Shrivastav explained, “As parents and teachers we want our students to do well, excel and want them to be all rounders. It is possible to achieve all of this and achieve more than that because there is a huge potential that everyone has. But, the one important thing is the foundation needs to be solid so as to be anchored within. One has to be mentally healthy to rise above.”

Dr. Bhavna Chadha aptly concluded the entire discussion before the commencement of the prize ceremony by saying “Let’s change the definition from the pursuit of success to going back to pursuit to happiness.” and also “The unique quality of yourself that is the biggest achievement you are born with, whatever you achieve after that is an addition to that achievement.”

This enlightening session concluded with a winner announcement ceremony. Winners and participants were thanked for their active contribution in making this month-long campaign a roaring success. Everyone reaffirmed their motive to spread awareness about mental health..

About India Is Us

India Is Us (i2u Social Foundation) is an NGO support ecosystem created to assist companies in fulfilling their CSR initiatives by working with verified NGOs. i2u works with numerous NGOs across India, focusing on twelve causes, including literacy and education, health and nutrition, environmental conservation, women empowerment, poverty alleviation, care for the elderly, animal welfare, skill development, inclusivity for people with disability, child welfare, WASH and heritage. i2u supports NGOs by helping them perform better through capacity building, sustainable growth, donor and volunteer mobilization.