Session for school students at Sreenarayana Vidyapeetam
An interactive session on “Culturally Appropriate Mental Health Literacies for Mental Health & Wellbeing” for school students at Sreenarayana Vidyapeetam. This included playing the short films the Recipe and the Verdict. Discussions with students generated a few talking points. One student said that mental health means having emotional stability when they said, “mental health means having emotional stability”. A Students said that “unlike other illnesses a person having a mental illness is constantly mocked and there is stigma [around mental illness] in the society.” Students were aware of the misinformation that exists in Keralan society as quoted by a student “Today in our Kerala still mental health misconceptions exist. Everyone should be awarded about mental health. Including students’ other members of society.” Another student commented on society at large when they said, “Today we the society is avoiding people with mental health issues so providing mental health awareness classes it can be reduced and as like any other human people with mental health issues will be seen as same.” A student also gave suggestions to improve the mental health of students of the state when she said “Students and children should get family time. Every child should communicate with their parents and everyone in the family. Everyone in a family should sit and talk at least once in a day. If we are able to communicate properly with our parents so many things in life will be sorted.” Handbooks and brochures were distributed to the students.