Youth Mental Health has been a significant cause of concern in India, marred by increasing number of threats. Apart from the traditional problems, such as behavioural issues and substance abuse, digital threats, such as the ‘Blue Whale Challenge’, have led to an unprecedented rise in the number of suicides in the youth population.
The youth in our country gets exposed to myriad difficulties as they step into adulthood, starting their life across campuses for graduate courses. Many promising students who had shown consistent results in the past suddenly notice a drop in their academic performance. It is important to underscore that while there may be 100 students in a class, not all perform at the same level, which means qualifications do not define success, but it is a person’s abilities and mental grit that enable him/her to succeed.
Another glaring fact is that not all colleges have the resources to support student mental health and well-being initiatives on their own, due to the lack of experienced counsellors. The situation exhorts us to think creatively and out-of-box, to come up with unconventional ways to engage youth and make them proactively considerate of their own mental health.
RoundGlass has been working with colleges across the nation to provide a technology enabled environment for the students, in order to nurture their emotional quotient. One of the key initiatives is the annual Youth Wellbeing Festival, Eunoia.
Eunoia (A beautiful mind) is a festival that brings together young adults from across college campuses of the nation, to ignite a dialogue on mental health awareness and wholistic well-being through innovative competitions, such as poetry, photography, music, illustrations, etc.
The core team believe this is the right way to create awareness amongst the youth, by making it interesting. These contests would encourage the millennial to ponder over the matters, which are relevant to their mental health. More importantly, these insights will bring an attitudinal and behavioural changes necessary to understand mental health issues and respond empathetically to those going through difficulties.
The ongoing festival is comprised of online contests followed by a grand finale on 23 September, where the finalists will get to interact with experts, celebrities and thought leaders who support the cause of youth mental health. It will be a platform to deliberate on the issues they face and observe on campus and, as a group, come up with unconventional ways to resolve them.
Join the #Quest4Eunoia. Lets get make Mental Health stigma-free.
Website: http://eunoia.round.glass/
Queries: eunoia2017@round.glass
Facebook: fb.me/rg1peace