Spotlights: Engaging Street Plays Across 6 States for World Suicide Prevention Day
- Mpower an initiative of Aditya Birla Education Trust works in the space of Mental health. This year it will focus its outreach towards the youth of the country
- Sets up COPE – Counselling and Outreach for Peer Empowerment, a community set up by Mpower in Colleges across 6 states that will work for the student and by the students
Bengaluru, 11th September, 2023: Amid escalating global concerns over college student mental health, Mpower, a pioneering initiative by the Aditya Birla Education Trust, has joined forces with educational institutions to drive awareness and address the pressing issue of student suicide. Commencing on World Suicide Prevention Day, students from colleges including Sambhram Institute of Technology, Bengaluru and spanning six states staged impactful street plays, shining a spotlight on the critical problem of suicide among their peers.
Mpower has also unveiled a ground-breaking initiative, COPE (Counselling and Outreach for Peer Empowerment), designed to offer much-needed support and resources for tackling mental health challenges within the student community. COPE is an entirely student-led community that represents a significant leap forward in promoting a proactive and empathetic approach to mental well-being. By fostering peer-to-peer engagement, providing guidance and counselling services, and creating a safe space for open conversations about mental health, COPE aims to empower students to seek help and support when faced with mental health concerns. COPE aims to provide a safe space, encourage awareness, enable youth-led programs, and destigmatize mental health conversations.
The compelling street plays organised as part of the World Suicide Prevention awareness and COPE launch, conceptualized by Mpower, brought together the student community and raised awareness about mental health challenges. This notable initiative commenced at the Garware Institute, situated within the University of Mumbai’s campus. Since its commencement, students from various institutions such as Sophia College and Atlas College in Mumbai, Dolphin Institute in Dehradun, B K Birla College in Kalyan, NITTE in Mangaluru, and Rungta Institute in Bhilai have performed these thought-provoking and impactful plays. The culminating play of the series will take place at PR Pote Patil Engineering College in Amravati and Indraprastha Engineering College in Delhi NCR on the 15th of September, which is also observed as Engineer’s Day.
“Mental health has long been relegated to the shadows, and it’s high time we bring it into the spotlight,” Advaitesha Birla, the Visionary Behind COPE Community said, “In the symphony of academia, it’s crucial to remember that our students are not just scholars but individuals with emotional lives that need nurturing. Mpower is committed to orchestrating a harmonious environment where mental health and well-being resonate with every student, faculty member, and staff. We’re uniting the student community and contributing to a more inclusive society through initiatives like COPE, which represents a pivotal step forward with a proactive approach to mental well-being within the student community. We’re hopeful that by encouraging peer-to-peer interactions and providing guidance and counselling services, COPE will establish a positive atmosphere where students feel comfortable addressing their mental health challenges openly and seeking assistance when required.
Students from various backgrounds came together to showcase their creative talents and emphasize the significance of mental well-being. The overarching objective of these performances has been to break the stigma surrounding mental health issues and encourage open and meaningful dialogue. The street plays serve as a crucial platform to communicate the importance of mental health and create a supportive environment for those who may be struggling.
Mpower’s commitment to the COPE community includes specialized training by our psychologists for 25 students from each college through the Youth Mental Health First Aider program. This equips them to identify and support peers facing mental health challenges. COPE will also engage students through regular activities, fostering awareness and creating a safe space for self-expression and seeking help. Furthermore, Mpower will empower these students to work towards creating mental health awareness in the college and neighbouring communities.
About Mpower
Mpower is a revolutionary social enterprise that has brought about a paradigm shift in India’s attitude towards mental health by spreading awareness, alleviating stigma, and providing holistic mental health care. Mpower, since its inception 6 years ago has built a strong force of over 200 trained mental health professionals associated with Mpower directly, providing multidisciplinary mental health services impacting over 121 million lives in India. Mpower with its presence in 7 cities including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Pune, and the Mpower Cells in Pilani, Goa, Kalyan, and Hyderabad and JERC university, Jaipur is equipped with state of art set-up designed to provide patients and mental health professionals, a safe and secure environment for mental health counselling needs. Mpower Operates under 5 verticals namely Movement, Clinical Care, Outreach, Academia, and Mpower 1 on 1 to offer world-class mental health services and stamp out the stigma associated with mental health
- The Movement: through this vertical we strive to bring about a cultural shift and a change in the mind-set of people by addressing misconceptions, fostering positive attitudes, disseminating correct information, and alleviating stigma related to mental illnesses.
- Clinical care: Clinical Care at Mpower is provided through world-class centres of excellence, by extremely skilled and qualified mental health professionals and can be broadly classified into the Centre, the Foundation, and the Cell.
- The Centre – Offers holistic mental health care solutions to children, adolescents, young people and their families.
- Mpower Foundation- Provides quality mental health care at a reasonable rate to underprivileged individuals, by empowering people living with psychosocial difficulties to lead meaningful lives, without social exclusion.
- Mpower Cell – Provides clinical interventions for specific target audiences. Mpower Cell is a small unit on partner organization premises. The cell has associations with NGOs, schools, Hospitals, corporate and government bodies. Association with BITS (Pilani, Goa, and Hyderabad) and Kalyan campus providing counselling and Psychiatric consultations and workshops to the students and Faculty. The aim is to provide clinical care and a mental health-friendly environment on campus.
- The Outreach: This arm is the awareness and capacity-building vertical of Mpower. Our IGNITE Programs aim to reach out to the various communities through our comprehensive programs and workshops for Schools, Colleges, NGOs and Corporate. Our aim is to destigmatize mental health, manage various aspects related to mental health, equip individuals with the skills to prevent mental health issues and encourage help-seeking behaviors.
- Academia- Our academic vertical seeks to equip society with the tools and skills necessary to
handle mental health crisis scenarios, to move towards empathy, to build capacity for mental
health professionals, and to create a sound ecosystem for those with mental health concerns
to not just live, but thrive.
- Helpline – The BMC and Mpower 1 on 1, along with the Government of Maharashtra is a toll-free, 24*7 multilingual helpline, that helps individuals sail through the tough times by addressing their concerns and offers callers Call 1800-120- 820050 and chat facilities Mpower has also collaborated with various government agencies and authorities to run impact-driven special projects that aim to create awareness and destigmatize mental health amongst various stakeholders
- Samvedhana- Under this project, we are closely working with 40 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to aid the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP).
- Saksham- Mpower has collaborated with the Mumbai police with the aim to provide counselling services to victims of abuse & perpetrators of crime
- MANN- This project aims to increase mental health awareness, provide support to and to build the capacity of the Central Industrial Security Force
- Oorja- Train teachers in collaboration with MCGM schools to bring about an improvement in the mental well-being of school children. Provide clinical interventions by the establishment of counselling cells in schools for underprivileged children through trained Psychologists. Also build the capacity of the school teachers through the Mental Health e- curriculum Mindsmatter, enabling them to deliver the curriculum in a sustainable manner in the future to support and develop mental health awareness, prevention and management skills amongst students across grade I to X.
Website- https://mpowerminds.com/
About Aditya Birla Education Trust:
Aditya Birla Education Trust (ABET) is an organisation committed to the cause of education and mental health, with an objective to nurture young minds. Right from establishing the Aditya Birla World Academy, an International School with an Indian soul, to The Aditya Birla Integrated School, which acknowledges the need to cater to children with different learning needs, ABET has always prioritised the importance of a child’s overall development. Further under the aegis of ABET, the Aditya Birla Education Academy provides professional development opportunities for educators, and engages, empowers and equips them to contribute towards shaping the future of young minds. In an endeavour to stamp out stigma surrounding mental health concerns, ABET has established Mpower, a holistic mental health care initiative, which has become the pioneer of mental health awareness in the country. Aditya Birla Education Trust runs under the zealous leadership of its passionate and committed Founder & Chairperson, Mrs. Neerja Birla.
