Being more involved in the virtual world and less in the real is affecting the new generation a lot
Bengaluru, Nov 21, 2018: ASARE in the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences is a weekly group session that is conducted under the National Well-Being (NWB) Centre every Thursday between 11 a.m. and 1p.m. for parents and children.
It provides counselling sessions and other programs for parents of children and adolescents with behavioural academic problems. The ‘Aadhara Camp’ under the NWB is a special service program for children, adolescents and adults with mental retardation and their families, started in 2006.
Narmada Jain, an Assistant Psychology Teacher from Livingstone Higher Secondary School in Dimapur says, “I feel ASARE is a brilliant initiative, considering the rate of children born with disabilities are growing higher by each passing day, and when a child is born with any form of disability, it is not only the child that suffers, but the entire family. So in such a cases, it is important we focus on the parenting needs that would be required to deal with such special children as after all every children deserves the best.
In such programs, the parents are taught how to deal with their children who have developmental and learning disabilities. Here, the parents really need to be patient and should have sufficient knowledge about their child’s problems.
Camps like Aadhara must be extremely beneficial as it helps the people to get their assessment test like that of IQ tests done which is done in order to understand at what level the child is and then accordingly their treatment is planned.
Children go to through tough times but it also depends on what kind of disability the child is dealing with. Children at times find it difficult to express their emotions and they can suffer from identity crisis too. But more than the children, parents are the ones who are more prone to distress leading to high level of anxiety and depression finding it hard to cope with.
According to Psychologist Narmada,” Recently, one of my mentors has been trying to bring up this program called ‘Triple P Program’ which stands for ‘Positive Parenting Program’ in India which has its roots in Queensland, Australia. It is a community service where professionals give us practical skills and tools training to manage our children’s behaviour”.
Rahul Jain, father of a daughter says ”Big names have come forward with their mental health stories which provides a good impetus to this so far neglected area of health. There is less talk, less discussion, less contact, more so amongst adolescents and parents. Being more involved in the virtual world and less in the real is affecting the new generation a lot like under-performance in academics and behavioural issues. Hence, there is a dire need to tackle this head on. Asare is a good step towards handling this by encouraging parents and children to come together, and counsel”.
Quoting Dr.Brock Chislom, the first director general of the WHO, Princy Jain, a second year MSC student from Montfort College says,” Without mental health, there can be no physical health and today, 64 years later, I think he could not have been more correct.”
She continued,” Awareness and literacy go a long way in dispelling ignorance, stigma and in increasing social inclusion. Many studies have shown that mental health awareness campaigns have yielded positive outcomes. Strategies like increasing awareness, including family members, social inclusion go a long way in spreading correct information and awareness. Community based systems like the one practiced in NIMHANS have shown positive results, especially in the context of low-income countries like India”.
According to India’s latest National Mental Health Survey (2015-2016), which was carried out across 12 states, found that the overall prevalence for current mental health morbidity was 10.6 percent and that 150 million people across India are in need of mental health care interventions, both of short and long-term. _
Despite the staggering number, people who need mental healthcare has been solely neglected in India and it is a deep rooted stigma. The survey also states that, depending on the state, between 70 and 92 percent of those in need of mental health care fail to receive any treatment.
India passed the Mental Health Care Act 2017 which focuses on empowering people suffering from mental health illness and it also aims at safeguarding the rights of the people to access the treatment without discrimination of any sorts.
A psychologist from NIMHANS says “this is a much needed move and we plan to spread more awareness about the same as community based interventions cannot be stressed in today’s time”.
