Noida: The health department of Gautam Budh Nagar district on Wednesday held a training session for teachers from government schools to prevent suicide among children. Mental health experts took the session that was attended by 42 teachers.
According to officials, the teachers were provided life skill training under the programme titled ‘Working together to prevent suicide’. Under the training, the teachers were told about the importance of understanding issues like decision making, problem solving, critical thinking, creative thinking, interpersonal relationship, effective communication, self awareness, empathy, and coping with emotion and stress among children.
The teachers were also told about the symptoms of common mental disorders, such as depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, and learning disabilities, so that children suffering from such problems can be identified.
There are 526 government-run primary schools with a total student strength of 85,500 in the district.
“It is important for teachers to understand the signs of mental health issues related to children to deal with the problem medically. It is also important to check the stigma related to mental illness. Teachers were told about the symptoms of many issues found in children. In the coming week, a similar training session will take place for teachers from private schools,” said Dr Bharat Bhushan, additional chief medical officer and nodal officer for the mental health programmes.
Teachers were also asked to identify sincere students who can be given the same training to identify such students suffering from any mental illness. “In schools, having a monitor of the class is an old practice. We have asked teachers to identify monitors who can help them identify and reach out to children facing any type of mental problem,” Bhushan said.
{{/usCountry}}Teachers were also asked to identify sincere students who can be given the same training to identify such students suffering from any mental illness. “In schools, having a monitor of the class is an old practice. We have asked teachers to identify monitors who can help them identify and reach out to children facing any type of mental problem,” Bhushan said.
{{/usCountry}}The department is going to organise street play at the district hospital in Noida on the occasion of World Mental Health Day on October 10. The officials will also hold a session on suicide prevention and stress management at a school in Sector 22 of Noida.
The officials will also be organising rallies on the issue and will be running more signature campaigns on October 11. A camp to spread awareness on suicides, depression and overall mental health will be organized in the slums of Surajpur.