Session on “My Mental Health”

Ms. Yvette Lee is a certified psychological counselor and professional social worker and has been working in the field of mental health for over 15 years. Her expertise lies in mental health counseling, crisis, grief and trauma counseling and adolescent and marriage counseling . She has worked in the past with people living with the mental illness and is currently associated with Mahatma Education Society’s Pillai group of Institutions and works with students with behavioral, emotional, psychological and academic difficulties. She has been the Ex-President at Soroptimist International Bombay, Chembur. She is also on board of the National Association of Soroptimist in India (NASI). She is also on the Board of Directors of the International Federation of Commerce and Industry.

This session was a need-of-time for the students to cope-up with the pressure from the ever evolving competitive society. Ms. Yvette Lee initiated her talk with a rationale for students to prioritize the phenomenon of ‘Mental health’. This session was under the aegis of ‘An initiative of Social Service Committee in Observance of Suicide Prevention’ week. She began with a key question about her addressal to the concept of ‘Stress’. She received numerous responses and all converged to a definition i.e. body’s reaction in response to any change. Later she emphasized on the adverse events of chronic stress and enlisted a few including headaches, chest pain, fatigue, muscle tension, abdominal discomfort, lack of motivation or focus, irritability, sleep disturbances, depression, over or under eating and higher rate of risky behavior. Later she addressed how to overcome the stress and suggested strategies to improvise mental health. She emphasized on recognizing the emotions at that moment and evaluating. On evaluation, the emotion needed to channelize in a manner that the response built in the subconscious mind would be positive. To convert any stress inducing emotion into a positive outcome, she suggested interrogating oneself such that it makes them feel grateful for this life, e.g What made you happy today? or what was the best part of the day? or what did you learn today? etc.

Further she also described a few stress coping strategies like being mindful and grounding both physical and mental ways, soothing, belly breathing, practicing gratefulness and carrying comforting objects. At the end of the session, student’s queries over stress management and uplifting mental health were resolved. Consequently, the session was concluded with a lot of applause, heartfelt gratitude and felicitation of the guest.