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Wellness centre at COEP to help students deal with stress of university live
Centre will be a place for psychological counselling, sessions and several other activities to ensure mental health capacity building for students
The 165-year-old College of Engineering, Pune (COEP), has taken a decisive step to deal with stress and depression among its engineering students.
On the occasion of World Mental Health Day, October 10, the college inaugurated a one of its kind wellness centre called ‘Mitra’ (friend) within the college premises.
This initiative is the brain child of Kshipra Moghe, assistant professor and consulting psychologist at department of Applied Sciences, COEP. According to Moghe, this centre will be a place for psychological counselling, sessions and several other activities to ensure mental health capacity building for students.
Talking about the centre, Nadini V Iyer, head, COEP Applied Science department, said, “Our aim is to reach out to every student, however, not all of them are open to talk about mental health. So we have created a platform by launching this wellness centre. Senior students will play the role of mentors and will guide the other students.It is difficult to find someone who will listen to your thoughts, hence, we will also form listening circles as part of this centre.”
Professor BB Ahuja, director COEP, said, “Mental well being is the need of the hour. When we face difficulties the first person we turn to is a fiend, hence, the wellness centre is called ‘Mitra’. We have students who come from different backgrounds and do not know much about the institute and the face mental trauma due to the studies. This wellness centre will help students to talk and open up about their problems.”
