Srinagar: A one-day workshop on ‘Psycho-Social Wellbeing’ was held at the University of Kashmir on Monday.
The workshop was organised by the varsity’s Student Counselling and Guidance Cell, Public Relations Centre (PRC), to acquaint PG students from various teaching departments with newer techniques of stress and anger management, besides initiating a conversation on varied aspects of mental health.
Registrar Dr Nisar A Mir chaired the valedictory session as chief guest, while Dean of Students’ Welfare Prof Aneesa Shafi and Dean School of Behavioural Sciences Prof Showket A Shah were special guests at the inaugural session.
In his valedictory address, Dr Nisar congratulated the PRC for holding the programme on an important theme concerning the wellbeing of students. He said the participating students should further carry forward the message of importance of strong mental health in their families and amongst their friends and relatives.
In her special remarks, Prof Aneesa Shafi said such programmes are very critical to acknowledging, understanding and developing coping mechanisms for mental health issues and concerns.
Prof Showket A Shah underlined the need for such discussions involving medical practitioners and subject specialists.
Keynote speaker Prof Yasir Rather from IMHANS Srinagar said the Psycho-Social Well-being is the need of the hour especially in college and university-going population as research has indicated that 40-50% of mental health conditions start during this phase.
“We need to move from the medical treatment model of mental health to preventive and promotive model,” he said, adding that “just as we take care of our physical appearance and physical health, we need to keep mental health in our priority list.”
Dr Fazale Rab, Consultant Psychiatrist, GMC Srinagar and Dr Masood Ahmad, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, GMC Srinagar, spoke about anger management techniques and various aspects related to depression and anxiety, respectively. Mr Feroze Malla, Psychological Counsellor, engaged the participants in a live demonstration on various stress management techniques, while Mr Tajamul Hussain, Student Mentor, led an interaction session with the participants.
Earlier, Media Advisor KU Dr Salima Jan delivered the welcome address and the primary reasons for holding the workshop. She said more such workshops will be held by the Student Counselling and Guidance Cell of the PRC to engage more and more students in the conversation in future.
Mr Zubair, Counsellor PRC, conducted proceedings of the event.
At the end of the programme, the Registrar distributed certificates of participation among the resource persons and students.