Chai with faculty, stalls for art therapy: IIT Bombay finds newer ways for mental well-being of students

The administration has also approved a new post of co-chairperson to SWC who will be responsible to dedicatedly look at finding ways of proactively helping students deal with pressure of any kind and allow more opportunities for them to socialise.

Director of the institute, Prof. Shireesh Kedare, said, “At present, the SWC with professional psychologists on-board is working for counselling needs of students. We want to go beyond this and take up a proactive approach.”

Talking about various activities that can be part of this initiative, Prof Kedare said, “We can do so many activities with students which would compel them to come out of their respective hostel-rooms or academics and engage with each other. While there could be events at every hostel allowing students opportunities to socialise more. Some of these events could also include faculty members keeping in mind the requirement of an informal approach, for example, Samosa Chai with faculty or once in a while dinner in hostel-mess by faculty among all.”
The premier technology institute recently released a report of its five-year (2018-2022) review conducted by an external agency in two phases over a period of several months of 2023.

Acknowledging the rapid expansion, including a large number of students, the review observed some concerns which included mental health support too.

Among specific areas meriting continuous attention, the review report recommended providing a readily accessible mechanism for professionally addressing issues of stress.

As the report suggested modifications in placement process, considering the elevated levels of stress around that time, Prof Kedare spoke about ‘Recharge Zone’, a unique stress-relief initiative for students in the latest placement season (December 2023), which offered stress-buster stations such as animal-therapy, foot-spa, art and yoga for students to destress.

On world mental health day celebrated on October 11, the institute hosted Vice Admiral Dr. Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon General, who spoke about the importance of mental health. “The idea was to openly speak about the topic of mental health and related aspects which are otherwise considered taboo,” said Prof. Kedare.

As a prelude to this event, the institute through SWC organised “mental health week” encompassing various activities from sound bath, dance movements to animal assisted therapy, art therapy allowing creative outlet and series on mental support thorough hobbies among all.