A four-day online workshop on ways to cope with stress and to promote the mental health of school students of classes 8 to 12 and their families was organized by Amity Center for Guidance and Counseling (ACGC) Amity University, Noida. The objective of this workshop was to help students to explore their inner strength and potential, enhance their capacity to face challenges by developing resilience besides helping parents, teachers and counsellors to support their wards to deal with difficult situations in a better way.
Sessions were held on various topics by psychologists, trainers and faculty of Amity University which focused on the topic “Internalizing for Achieving Inner Happiness and Harmony” wherein various sessions like Inward journey to self for staying happy, Improving personal effectiveness, Developing resilience to cope up with uncertainty, Managing interpersonal relationships, listening and empathy and Coping with stress and anxiety were discussed.
Another Session was held on “Discovering Inner potential: Path to Internalize for well-being during Covid Pandemic” which deliberated on the issues such as Active life-style for developing inner strength, Nutritious food for enhanced immunity & healthy living, Positive attitude and mindfulness, Creative engagement for enhancing inner potential, Navigating with positivity in uncertain and difficult times and Explore, set and pursue your goals.
Inaugurating the Workshop, Dr. (Mrs.) Balvinder Shukla Vice Chancellor Amity University said, “we are currently in a challenging time of an epidemic that has affected all aspects of life including industry, schools, education, etc”. These difficult times have given rise to stress and anxiety and the students are caught up with challenges beyond their comprehension. Their everyday delight of going to college/school, meeting friends, physical play time and social interaction with peer groups were suddenly bound to a machine-based interaction. Through this workshop, Amity is trying to help parents, teachers, and counselors to understand their children better and provide necessary support for their self-development.
During the technical session, Dr. Harminder Gujral, Head, Amity Center for Guidance and Counseling (ACGC) in her lecture said, this Happiness programme has been designed to address the questions of students such as ‘What should I do? My parents and siblings are suffering from COVID-19, how can I manage to live without feeling anxious about their health? I am unable to manage academic work with household chores and other immediate pressures. I am deeply missing my friends, peers and campus life etc. Keeping in mind the concerns and questions raised by students counselling sessions were held wherein students were asked to do self- reflection on how did they manage all this? How did they cope and navigate through the situation? What thought/emotion/action generated the most relief?
According to Dr. Gujral, deliberations on these points were astonishing. Behind the pain and negative emotions, there was a ray of hope and optimism which kept them going in these challenging times. The students were advised to follow their passion which they could not do otherwise due to paucity of time, eat and sleep in moderation as stress and anxiety lead to overeating/undereating and insomnia. They were also advised not to indulge too much in Coronavirus news coverage or social media on this aspect rather interact with friends and loved ones on topics of interest.
Through this workshop, participants learned the importance of inner potential, interpersonal relationships, empathy and listening, healthy lifestyle, nutritious food, stress management and developing resilience, mindfulness, practicing self-compassion, forgiveness, and gratitude. The workshop was attended by more than 5000 people that included students, teachers, parents and counsellors.