IITG-ians depressed? Visit its ‘Saathi’, and smile- The SentinelAssam

IITG-ians depressed? Visit its ‘Saathi’, and smile



IIT-Guwahati has decided to launch an online portal to counsel
students suffering from depression and stress. The portal will help such students to seek counselling from experts without disclosing their identities

GUWAHATI, June 1: The immense stress to perform well in studies has been resulting in an increasing number of cases of depression among students in different parts of the country, including Assam. The development has also resulted in numerous cases of suicide among students in different educational institutes, and the IITs are not an exception.

Taking steps towards preventing such unfortunate incidents, IIT-Guwahati has decided to launch an online portal to counsel students suffering from depression and stress. The portal will help such students to seek counseling from experts without disclosing their identities.

Saathi, a counseling centre of IIT-G set up in 2010, has already signed a memorandum of understanding with a Bangalore-based mental health support company for launching the portal. The portal, which is expected to be launched in August this year, will be part of the IIT-G’s advanced facilities for mental and emotional support to its students.

Even though students can now walk into Saathi from Monday to Friday or call the helpline number (8486814024) at any time, many students do not call up the centre or visit in person to avoid showing their face or exposing their voice. But the portal will help students to seek counselling by logging into it and sharing their problems online without disclosing their identities.

The Saathi counseling centre has so far helped 6,000-plus students suffering from depression and stress since its launch. New students who take admission into the IIT and come from different parts of the country are provided compulsory counselling. Most of the students who visit the centre seeking counseling complain of depression when their cumulative grade point average score is low or when they suffer from homesickness.

A similar portal for anonymous counselling of students has proved useful at IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kharagpur.

IIT-Guwahati is also following its counterparts in other parts of the country which have taken measures to tackle depression among students by setting up creative centres for students to dance, sing, and play musical instruments or by organizing tree hugging sessions, along with certified counselling centres.

IIT-M launches online counselling - TNN

IIT-M launches online counselling

Updated: Oct 13, 2016, 12.51 AM IST

CHENNAI: To help students easily access mechanisms that can assist in dealing with stress, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has introduced an online emotional wellness platform called 'YourDOST aims to increase awareness regarding mental wellness and break the prevalent social stigma attached to seeking psychological help on campus. The mechanism has been introduced in the hope that a larger number of students would be more comfortable on an online forum when compared to the existing face-to-face system.

The anonymous forum functions similar to a chatroom where students with a user ID and password can log onto a counselling session. These sessions are usually a one-on-one with a professional at the other end. The institute has roped in a number of experts including psychologists, life coaches and career coaches.

General secretary of the student body, Purab Jain says that there is a lot of stigma attached to counselling. "Many aren't comfortable saying they are taking up a counselling session. We already had a regular counselling mechanism where counsellors come to the campus. However, some students may feel uneasy about going to a counsellor's room with other students watching. This is precisely why YourDOST was launched," he said.

On the other hand, the institute is also strengthening its peer support network. The guidance and counselling team IIT-M called 'Mitr' has now been split into two wings -proactive guidance and reactive guidance. 'Saathi' the proactive wing of the campus involves around 250 student mentors involved in creating awareness and sensitizing students about overall well-being. It will also manage platforms to support enhancement of skills for personal and professional growth.

"Each of the 250 mentors have about 5 mentees, most of the mentees being first-year students as they are new to campus. Mentors will help resolve issues at the student level or suggest professional help if required," said Jain, adding that another level of mentors will cater to the seniors. Mitr which remains the other wing now deals with reactive mechanism where students help others deal with the aftermath of an issue or an incident or could also involve disciplinary action, said the student body.