IIT Bombay’s Techfest launches mental health awareness initiative

The initiative will comprise organising extensive workshops that will be attended by over 90 counsellors from across the country

Techfest, the annual science and technology festival of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, launched a nationwide initiative for college-goers to address mental health concerns among the youth amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

The website was launched on Sunday and the workshops are expected to begin on September 26. (Representational Photo/HT)

The initiative will comprise organising extensive workshops that will be attended by over 90 counsellors from across the country. The festival committee has also launched a section on its official website that will connect students to counsellors and help fight the stigma attached to mental illnesses. It is called HOPE (Healing Occurs with Positivity and Expression).

“The website will feature an interactive query section where the students will be able to post their queries and mental health-related issues anonymously and get help from counsellors. The website will also host helpline numbers of more than 10 prominent NGOs (non-governmental organisations) from across the country. Blogs addressing general mental health issues will be also published on the website,” said a spokesperson for Techfest.

On Sunday afternoon, the Techfest team started the initiative with an Instagram Live with Radhika Madan, an actor, and Akila Maheshwari, a trustee and the founder of NAMI India—a non-profit working to eradicate and treatment of mental illness in the country by integrating and involving consumers, mentally-challenged people, doctors, healthcare workers, and the government.

The website was launched on Sunday and the workshops are expected to begin on September 26.