Let’s talk about Mental Health

Mental Health and Mental well-being are no longer new terms. People are vociferously talking about it all over the world. The internet is flooded with information related to these terms. Seeking online help for mental health issues is common. Mental Health professionals across the world are trying their best to reach out to as many people as possible. Neuro-Linguistic Programming commonly known as Life Coaching is an emerging career option today. All this assures me that mental health now is getting its due importance. People are more aware now than ever before of how important it is to talk about mental health and mental illness. But the flip side of the story is a little worrisome.

As an academician, I sometimes feel disheartened and helpless when I see people crying for help on virtual platforms and not talking about it openly because of the shame and stigma attached to it. In 2017, Indian President Ram Nath Kovind warned of a potential mental health epidemic in India with 10 percent of its 1.3 billion-strong population having suffered from one or more mental health problems. The statistics turn even more alarming when it says that there are only 5000 registered Psychiatrists in India i.e. 0.3 for every 100,000 people and alarmingly the rates of anxiety symptoms in adults jumped from 8 percent to 23 percent between 2019 and 2022. In addition to it, people have difficulty understanding the difference between Mental health and Mental illness, confusing everyday sadness and stress with clinical depression.

But as an educationist in the contemporary world, I feel, stress and everyday anxiety are an inevitable part of our work. Right from learning new age technology to matching with the thoughts of Gen Alpha, everything is a challenge for us as we have to cater to the cognitive requirements of the most evolved homo sapiens. Not only us as educators but the students and learners also face a lot of stress because they face performance pressure. Performance not only in academics but also co-curricular, extra-curricular, social relations, peer pressure, Image building, etc. So, we must realize that Stress and anxiety are not going to go away from our work. In fact, on a twisted note, I feel we must learn to use eustress to optimize our performance rather than feeling distressed and anxious about adapting to these changes.

At Sunbeam, I feel pride in sharing that we have tried our best to work on the change quotient (sometimes referred to as the creativity quotient) of our employees and students. We have adopted practices like Bubble time, where students voluntarily sign up for an exclusive talk time with a person of his/her choice and it could be about anything. We strongly believe in the co-existence of all the different stakeholders of the institution and hence, everyone is empowered to have bubble time with anyone who the person feels comfortable with.

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I recall bubble time with one of my science teachers when she was concerned about her kid staying alone at home after school hours and how it was affecting her mental health. I felt she just needed some ventilation as emotional catharsis is an important factor in a person’s well-being. It is almost a form of self-referral where the students are free to have bubble time with any Teacher, Administrator, or counselor. Bubble time is all about listening actively without being judgemental. The adult whom the child has solicited just sits down and listens to the words and emotions of the child and does not judge. This is one practice that has yielded great results over the years and has helped us create an empathetic and emotionally balanced atmosphere in our system.

Teacher Training programs in mental health for understanding self and self-upgradation is our USP. Almost 75 percent of teachers at sunbeam are Pastoral Guides and are trained in basic counselling skills. Here, I would also add that these training sessions are conducted not just for teaching staff but separate sessions are conducted for administrators, teachers, and care givers as in the Hostel Staff. They sit-down sessions are taken forward by the school counsellor to the support staff as well which means it’s a cascade effect of understanding and awareness about mental health. These training sessions include understanding the current problems and issues, developing empathy, Anger Management, Stress Management skills, dealing with performance pressure and anxiety, peer pressure, and other related topics. All members, right from the top management to the rock-bottom support staff are trained in these skills. They are well aware of the traits of Hardiness- control, commitment, and challenge. They know that emotional intelligence is the key to optimizing potential. And thus, it all becomes easy at Sunbeam.

A lot of members of the staff are trained Quality Circle Time practitioners. It is an exciting, democratic, and creative approach used to support facilitators manage difficult issues that affect the learning environment of the classroom. Working on the principles of token economy, the games played in QCTs very subtly establish class norms that in turn help in setting up Golden Rules for the class. Visiting the five wells in QCT i.e. listening, looking, observing, thinking, and concentrating, allow the children to develop a different perspective and thus helps in reducing functional fixedness.

In this VUCA world, we understand that mental health is of utmost importance for the successful functioning of an organization and therefore we strongly believe that sometimes it is ok, not to be ok. To break the mundane routine, we encourage teachers, students, and staff members to travel to different Universities / Institutions/organizations in India and abroad and participate in different activities to bring back fresh perspectives for dealing effectively with the demands of the contemporary world and effect socio-emotional adjustment. Traveling not only freshens you up but is also an amazing stress buster. It widens your thoughts and helps you see the world from a different perspective and start again with new zeal and enthusiasm.

We also have to take cognizance of the breakdown of social systems around us. Nuclear families with single children, single-parent families, estranged parents, etc. have become accepted norms in the social fabric. Schools, therefore, have become forums of socialization and value inculcation. However, as practitioners of education, if we go into classrooms empty within, we will not be able to fill people with the required skills to strike balance between Mind, Body, and Soul which is the ultimate achievement for a mentally healthy human.

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I completely agree with the fact that distress or negative stress can pose serious hazards to the person experiencing it. It may sometimes turn life-threatening. But at the same time, I also feel that life would turn monotonous and boring if we do not have enough challenges to meet. A blend of both can help us strike a better work-life balance.

To conclude, I would also like to quote Hans Selye, Father of Modern stress, who introduced and coined the terms like Eustress and Distress. He said that “Eustress is what energizes us and motivates us to make a change.” It helps in optimizing our performance and becoming self-actualized. After all, we have to understand that there is a crack in everything and that is how the light gets in.

Author – Bharti Madhok, Director, Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions, Varanasi.

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