Shillong October 10: The Department of Counselling Psychology, Martin Luther Christian University today observed the World Mental Health Day along with the rest of the world by organising a series of awareness programmes in the city.World Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues and mobilizing efforts in support of better mental health. This year the theme of the WMHD is Mental health in the workplace, and keeping this in mind the department organised two awareness programmes one for the Officers and staff of the Rynjah Police Station and the other for the teachers of the different departments of MLCU.
The awareness programme in Rynjah Police station was attended by many of the officers, constables and other staff of the station. The students from the department of Counselling Psychology initiated different activities to release some of their work related stress and also discussed many of the factors that could lead to stress which can then turn into depression and other mental illnesses.
A short talk on the various forms of stress and their causes were also given and a few suggestions were also meted out to relieve stress and to maintain a healthy mental state of being.One of the faculty, Dr. Debbie Pari, while speaking about the different stress level at different workplace said that the Police workspace is different because the work is not performed in an office but rather in the streets and it has many risks factors attached to it.
She added that the Police need to work fast and have to always be alert with a quick thinking and analytical mind, and therefore they always need to de-stress and maintain a healthy mindset towards life and not be pulled into the different kinds of mental illnesses.
After her presentation, Dr. Pari also taught them a small breathing exercise to lower their body temperature and their stress level which would help them during their stress filled work environment.In the University, the students performed a small role play on the major causes of workplace stress for the teachers and also how to relieve the stress and to stay positive in their work environment.
