Counselling, workshops & helplines: How varsities helping students cope

Noida: To help

students

cope with grief, anxiety and fear during the

pandemic

,

universities

in Noida and

Greater Noida

have created a framework for them to access

mental health support

.

According to universities in the district, the students are facing troubled times. Monica Mehra, a psychologist and in charge of Shiv Nadar University’s Wellbeing Centre told TOI, “Students are suddenly having to deal with complex emotions, especially if they have lost a parent or a sibling or friends. Besides dealing with grief, they are unsure of their careers and there is anxiety. Also, with continuous and extended screen time, there is no physical community and there is a sense of isolation, which is leading to depression.”

She added, “Calls for help have spiked. Our

helpline

is attending at least 25% more calls than times before Covid. We are dealing with around 115

counselling

sessions a month, which is the highest that we have ever had.”

“Covid has been extremely disempowering psychologically as students sense that they are losing a support system with the loss of a parent or a parent’s income. We are counselling them to help process complicated responses to the pandemic. While it is difficult to counsel on screens because the human connection of physical counselling is absent, we are still giving one-on-one sessions to help provide some comfort at this time,” Mehra added.

At Amity University, the system for mental health support has been consolidated since last year’s lockdown with a helpline supported by four psychologists. According to the university, the calls have doubled as compared to the count before the pandemic. “Last week, we got 60 calls. Before Covid, we got around 30 calls a week. There’s a spike in anxiety levels. Students are isolated, they are lonely. A sense of helplessness and fear is also leading to anger. Anger is a defence mechanism and if not dealt with fast and leads to anxiety and depression so it is important that parents and teachers recognise these signs fast,” psychologist, Harminder Kaur who head’s the mental health facility at the university, said.


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