Written by Atharva Mehendale, Community Project Manager, URI - North India and Afghanistan
Mental health awareness is a cause of concern for all educators, who are often the first line of defence for their students. Students who suffer from mental illnesses themselves, or those who have friends or family members who suffer from mental illnesses, can be affected by the stigma that is sometimes attached to it. It is necessary for educators to understand the impact that a student's mental health has on learning and achievement, especially in low income and socially underprivileged communities. An effective social and emotional learning program goes a long way in developing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making.
Light Up - Emotions Matter Foundation, a member group of United Religions Initiative – North India & Afghanistan was born out of the need to advocate emotional intelligence in low income spaces. It was established in 2017 and has been working since, to shatter the conventional view of emotional intelligence being a rather ‘elitist concept’. It has been striving to decode it for low income spaces. Juhi Sharma, Founder – Light Up believes that mental health is something that the conventional education system usually leaves out; and this is where Light Up tries to intervene. Their modules are developed around real-life instances; contextualized on a need basis. Light Up commits to transform school eco- systems of children, parents/guardians, teachers and school leaders with social emotional skills to recognise, understand and manage emotions so as to reduce the impact of psychological and physiological trauma on behaviour and development. It primarily works with children in:
- Schools
- High risk spaces like juvenile homes
- Urban slums
Light Up follows an ‘educational psychology’ approach rather than a clinical approach to address these issues. It has been striving to normalize mental health and counselling - issues that are usually considered to be taboos in the society. It focuses on school-level transformation by developing emotional intelligence in children, parents and teachers through social - emotional learning workshops. These skills have proven to be tools to better cope with everyday trauma, struggles and lead happier and healthier lives. Starting from creating change in a community of 35 children in Sanjay Camp, Chanakyapuri - an urban slum in Delhi, Light Up has grown to impact 6800 beneficiaries. The children come from low income communities, and in most cases are first generation learners.
Education and development of emotional and social skills is imperative to addressing behavioural problems, preventing early stage mental health issues and building a cohesive and compassionate society. In addition to working with schools, Light Up works with juvenile homes. These have been particularly difficult spaces to intervene. People surviving in high risk zones have higher propensity to develop mental health issues, aggressive behavior, self-harm and anxiety issues. This is where social inclusion becomes particularly difficult. URI has been instrumental in navigating these spaces for Light Up. Light Up and URI have in the past collaborated on a number of workshops in Kashmir and Chandigarh. URI has made approaching and dissecting social inclusion in high risk spaces possible for Light Up.
People who don’t fully understand mental illnesses may make incorrect judgments or unkind assessments of people who suffer from them. People with mental illnesses may also face discrimination & stigma in their communities – including in schools. Increasing awareness of mental illness increases knowledge of mental illness. And with more knowledge, there is less stigma.
One pressing problem that Light Up has been tackling since its inception is that of people not thinking of emotional wellbeing and mental health as a fundamental problem; especially in the NGO space. Advocating to make emotional well-being and emotional intelligence a fundamental human right – like roti, kapda, and makaan; is something that Light Up has been striving to achieve. It makes this possible by placing social inclusion at the center of all its initiatives. Trying to strike the right chord between social inclusion and emotional wellbeing; and making mental health a socially inclusive and accessible concept has kept the light up in the truest sense!
About the author: Atharva works as Community Project Manager with the North India and Afghanistan Zone of United Religions Initiative. He also works as a Teaching and Research Fellow with the O.P. Jindal Global University, Delhi NCR. He holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) in International Affairs. His research work focuses on migration and mobility, urban studies, labour, identity, and development. He can be reached at [email protected].
