A STUDY ON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS AND

SUPPORT SYSTEM AMONG THE STUDENT COMMUNITY IN TISS, MUMBAI

Presented By:

Nanak Kumar Barik(M2019HO027) Ekta Meelu (M2019HE016)

Anuja Sankhe (M2019HE008) Manvi Suyal (M2019ED011)

Uchita Bakshani (M2019ED026) Seema Damodare (M2019ED019)
Shubham Prasad (M2019HRM061) Ashish Shinde (M2019ED006)
Shivangi Joshi (M2019HE031) Subarna Das (M2019HE035)
 CAUSES FOR MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS IN STUDENTS

Unrealistic expectations leading to self- bullying mentality (unrealistic expectation of

students from themselves makes students feel dissatisfied with their performance).

During the school years, academic stressors may show in any aspect of the child’s
environment: home, school, neighborhood, or friendship.

High levels of academic stress have led to poor outcomes in the areas of exercise,
nutrition, substance use self-care and psychopathology

Peer Pressure (Students feel it is necessary for them to behave in a certain way to be
accepted by their peers)

Belief that if they don’t understand a concept immediately it means they are failing.
Separation anxiety (Due to being away from their families)

Overly medicalzed and symptomzed view of normal life

 MOST COMMON MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS FOUND IN STUDENTS

1 2 3

DEPRESSION DEPRESSION EATING DISORDERS

4 5

SELF HARM SUBSTANCE ABUSE

A study based in Iran : More girls than boys are suffering from symptoms of mental disorders
(Nami, Y., Nami, M., S., Eishani, K., A., (2013)
A study in Kolkata : Gender was also found to be significantly associated with examination-
related anxiety and psychiatric caseness. That is,female students experience more
examination-related anxiety and psychiatric caseness than their male counterparts.
(Sibnath, Strodl, & Sun, 2015)
 SCENARIO AT TISS

There are currently 5 counselors on Campus – Some are there full time and some part time.
      Each counselor is able to take 3-4 appoints per day.

      Mental health of students at is TISS is very similar to that of students from other
universities.

  Main problems faced by students are relationship problems, loneliness, homesickness,

career related struggles, family pressure.

  Not many cases of academic stress.

      More people are becoming aware and using the services of counselors at the health
center, even the stigma surrounding mental health has reduced. (In context of TISS)

    Peer support groups exist and work towards spreading awareness and identifying
people who need counseling.

     There is a need for more counselors as some of the existing ones are there only part
time.
 RATIONALE FOR CHOOSING THE COMMUNITY FOR THE STUDY

BACKGROUND

TISS is a unique institution which is different from other Colleges as such in terms
of number and types of courses available and diversity of students coming from all
places across the nation.
As the institution offers mostly post graduate courses, students taking admission
are already having some kind of experience to deal with new kind of settings and
the stress they are going to face during the next two years.
But TISS fairly manages to surprise them. Apart from the rigorous curriculum
involving lot of assignments and deadlines floating around simultaneous various
other socio-economic issues keeping students under lot of stress.
 AS A PARTICIPANT OBSERVANT IN THE STUDY

We as observants are also participants in the study. As first year students we

went through all the things which were talked about in the session taken by
teachers, counsellors and seniors. And many other things which were not
talked about.
We all went through highs and lows last two semesters. Many times we
found ourselves left high and dry. To cope up with such situations we need to
strengthen our support system. We need to have a friend on whom we can
trust. We need a teacher and counsellor to whom we can seek advice. We
need a peer group who can support and motivate each other.
 A GREAT PLACE TO TALK AND UNDERSTAND MENTAL HEALTH

In the orientation itself we were given an induction to the need of

maintaining a healthy life in terms of mental health. The counsellors
welcomed the students and gave a brief about how to cope up with the
challenges related to mental health. 
We were given a poster on 10 tips to settle at TISS which I still have on my
desk and I use it everyday to help me to guide myself.
The environment of inclusion and acceptability makes this a great place to
talk about and understand mental health. Because this is the bedrock of
prevention and intervention for improving the Mental Health of students of
the institute
 ACCESSIBILITY TO STUDY PARTICIPANTS

As interacting with colleagues and friends of friends with other courses, we

have been able to chart out rough patch of how the people in the campus are
feeling.
The questionnaire circulated on the google docs presented a picture which
showed the relationship how the happiness factor has a correlation with the
Support he draws from his peers.
Most of the participants admitted that their friends are a crucial part of their
vision of happy living. And few participant also added they are well off with
or without such kind of support.
Not finding conducive peer group  is also one of the pushing factors which
leads to dropout in from admissions.
 GAPS IN IMPLEMENTATION IN EARLIER PROGRAMMES

MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS ASSESSMENT OF THE COMMUNITY

• The tools employed in this study are online questionnaire, group

discussion, informal interviews.
• Factors affecting the Needs of the Mental health –
• Community’s view on the interpretation helpful in improving their mental
health
 GAPS IN IMPLEMENTATION IN EARLIER PROGRAMMES

PROPOSAL FOR A COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH

INTERVENTION PROGRAM

• My Proposal – “Expansion of Peer Support Programme to larger level by

including everyone and making random support group to hear out and
help each other”
• Like Alcoholics Anonymous we can have Friends anonymous where we can
meet and discuss with the community every week and it may help out.
• Peer support sometime feels being excluded as not being in the group
from the beginning
 GAPS IN IMPLEMENTATION IN EARLIER PROGRAMMES

ACTIVITIES FOR THE NEW PROGRAM

• Outings
• Plan trips
• Interviews
• New suggest from others
• Continuous program
 GAPS IN IMPLEMENTATION IN EARLIER PROGRAMMES

PLAN FOR RUNNING THE PROGRAM

• Chart out the outline of the program

• How to reach out the program
• Seniors sharing their experience
• A space to talk and not just to listen
• Open ended session which encourages to talk something new and
end new
• Structured to build new thoughts and intervention to help and
motivate yourself

COMPATIBILITY OF THE PROGRAM WITH THE CORE PRINCIPLES OF THE

COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH
 WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPY IN THE FUTURE?

Good job

Career and Love

Becoming the vision that I have of myself

Stability

Success and a happy family

A satisfactory life

Whenever I spent time with my family, it’s the happiest time for me

Well Settled life

 FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPING THE INTERVENTION

S = SPACE
R= RESOURCES
C= CULTURE AND CONNECTEDNESS
SR= STIGMA REDUCTION
 SPACE

Developing a wellness hub on campus, this space is to be characterized as a

comprehensive health hub to centralize all resources in one place.

Building a 24 hour access and aggregation of all the mental health services.

Providing students with stress free zones that include relaxation pods,
games, therapy animals.

Fostering a climate of psychological safety wherein individuals feel safe to

take interpersonal risks – to discuss, disclose and seek help for issues relating
to mental health and well being.
 RESOURCES

Enhancing services to meet the needs of all the individuals adequately and
in a personalized manner.
Increasing the number of trained professionals to effectively deliver
culturally competent services in order to meet the needs of diverse group of
students.
Ensuring a robust online presence that provides contextualized information
to all the students , with the provision of homepage tailored to meet the
individual needs.
Increase the network of on- campus and off -campus mental healthcare
providers to ensure all time availability of trained professionals.
Develop alternative modes of access like mobile phone apps, video chats to
ensure after hour access and routine follow ups .
 CULTURE AND CONNECTEDNESS

Identify and support disconnected and /or isolated students and take up
relevant measures to support connectedness amongst such students.

Activities aimed towards promoting tolerance and inclusiveness on

campus.

Promoting interaction between students of different regions , socio-

cultural backgrounds , culture and sexual orientations to promote inclusivity
and sensitivity.

The providers of mental health care should take into account cultural
background of the students, moreover the campus should be such that it
fosters cultural identity of the students in order to promote mental well
being of students staying away from their home towns.
 STIGMA REDUCTION

Increasing the investment in research on mental wellbeing, in regards to

developing effective means to educate, rationalize and change mindsets
about mental health.

Identifying individuals who have successfully faced mental illness, addiction

or challenges and who are comfortable sharing their experiences with the
larger community.

Integrate mental health discussions into regular academic fabric of the

university.

Implement a public messaging campaign to correct common

misconceptions and stigma around utilization of services.

Fostering a supportive educational environment for all the individuals that

increase disclosure and provides assistance and support.
EXISTING INITIATIVES BY TISS REGARDING MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS OF
STUDENTS

 There is an already existing Counselling Center in College which emphasizes

on factors of student’s thoughts, emotions and experiences
 However, the counselling centers do not include several other important aspects
for students like cognitive behavioral therapies, group therapies, mindfulness-
based interventions and strong supportive therapeutic relationships
 Also, the students need to be self-motivated to visit these counselling centres;
but no measures are taken in this direction to really motivate and facilitate the
need for students to visit these centers..

 The Peer-support group sessions are held during the start of every college year,
which tries to build a community mental health attitude in students.But, overall
only few sessions are conducted and the student fall-out rate is high just after
few sessions. It becomes difficult for peers to manage their timings; and this
concern is not looked upon by the Peer-support teaching staff, who thinks it the
responsibility of the student to manage.
EXISTING INITIATIVES BY TISS REGARDING MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS OF
STUDENTS

 The faculty is not sufficient to cater to all the students’ needs; if we compare the
professor to student ratio. The rooms allotted for conducting these sessions do
not accommodate large groups; which is the scenario most of the times. Due to
which the students actually miss on a lot of activities, which are further reformed
to accommodate the students’ capacity in a cumbersome room.

 Though TISS conducts these mental health-based initiatives, their performance is

not upto the mark and needs improvement in several aspects.
 The Community Mental Health CBCS Programme which was added this year to
the curriculum was a good leap. However, a mental health related subject must
be compulsorily added in every school semester programme too for students to
recognise their own mental health issues and understand various ways to solve
them
 OBJECTIVES OF THE NEW PROGRAMME

1.To examine associations of mental health of the students of TISS with the
environment prevailing in the campus.
2.To examine associations between the mental health of students with the
relationships they have with their friends and peers.
3.To examine mental health help seeking behavior for students with mental distress. 
4.To analyze regular assessment of group activities
5.To identify and analyze those people who are in the need of the program
6.To promote mental health seeking through peer discussion and support.

7.To encourage participation in peer counselling sessions conducted by the counselling

Centre at Tiss.
8.To encourage students to increase their communication skills for e.g expressing
unpleasant feelings to a close friend, active listening and also expressing positive
feelings.
9 To analyze stress that some people may be facing during working in group
assignments or activities and help them with ways to abate them.
 ACTIVITIES OF OUR NEW MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM:

FOCUS :
 Wellness (involves social, emotional , spiritual, environmental, financial, occupational,
intellectual and physical dimensions) and health promotion services

 Disability services

 Stigma reduction initiatives

 Supported education programs which have potential to provide necessary

individualized supports that enable course completion, increase retention rates, and
instigate productive post-graduation outcomes.

 Student driven innovative, fun and weekly mental health-based programs

 Group therapy - where students feel that it is a safe place to open up and talk about
their mental health issues
 AWARENESS ACTIVITIES

Mental health awareness Interactive Bulletin Board (includes statistics, quotes and
many links to resources)

Mental health awareness Choice Board (includes activities such as : creating a

podcast, website, pamphlet etc.)

Mental health awareness freebies

A College Comic Strip reflecting fun and peer-directed short stories

Mental Health Exhibit

 PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
Colleges are pervasive environments in young peoples’ lives and can positively impact
on their mental health, mitigating some negative impacts of other social factors.
However, for some, colleges can present as considerable sources of stress, worry, and
unhappiness , which can hinder academic attainment. In focusing on promotion,
therefore, it is important to consider the educational context as a natural environment
in which it is possible to build rights of agency, security, and personal freedom in
young people, whilst recognising any limitations this may have.
Possible Promotional Activities can be:
Host a mental health screening event
Role-playing exercises
 Strengthening the role of 3 P's:
Professors, Parents and Peers
Build a Self-Esteem or Mentor Team
‘A Healthier Tomorrow’ Workshop - A health education initiative
Topics that will be covered:
Character education, Disease Prevention, Fitness, General Review Activities, Mental
health, Nutrition, Sexuality, Social Health, Substance Abuse
 THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITIES
Promote Mindfulness or meditation
 Emotion based Activities like:
Paint your emotions
Create an emotion wheel
Put together a journal (art based or word based)
Explore puppet therapy
Use doodling or line art
Design a postcard that you will never send
Draw your heart
Relaxation based Activities like:
Paint to music
Finger paint
Make a scribble drawing
Use color blocks
Draw in sand
Draw outside in touch with nature
 THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITIES
Happiness related activities like:
Take photographs
Document a spiritual experience
Work on a softness project
Think up a wild intervention
- Self - learning activities like:
Create a transformational portrait series
Draw yourself as a super-hero
Create a box of values
Create a life map
Body as a canvas - peer supported
Create a clutter collage
"I am" Collage
 COMPATIBILITY OF THE PROGRAM WITH PRINCIPLES OF CMH

PROMOTION OF MENTAL HEALTH AND PREVENTION OF MENTAL DISORDERS

 Study group population being directly exposed to psycho- social factors

that make them vulnerable for becoming mentally ill.

In our study majority of students being first yr students – they face the
challenges like accommodation ,travelling and consistent busy schedules of
lectures as well as other important academic stuff etc, where they find a very
short duration of relaxing the mind as well as to sleep proper 7-8 hrs at night.

Studying at maximum time being most crucial part of the student life, they
skip eating or sleeping at appropriate times , it stimulates physical as well as
psychological disturbances.

Having fellow batch mates as friends as well as peer supporters who offer
support and help to sensitive and vulnerable students promotes mental
health and prevents hazardous situations.
 COMPATIBILITY OF THE PROGRAM WITH PRINCIPLES OF CMH
ACCESS TO BASIC MENTAL HEALTH CARE

In TISS campus we have PEER SUPPORTER GROUPS as well as I-CALLservice

to deal with any kind of psychological stress, as well as play zones inside the
campus.

Encouraging acts and messages through various sources to openly accept

the psychological stressful conditions and reach for the help.

I call service where anonymously a student can approach the help desk and
can seek help to reduce the burden of psycho-social stress.

These psycho-social disturbances can be observed in the form of anxiety,

restlessness, loneliness, low self esteem, low sense of self efficacy lack of
concentration negligence of personal care and hygiene.

Coping strategies in the form of withdrawal from friend circle, being

drinking, getting substance addicted are observed
 COMPATIBILITY OF THE PROGRAM WITH PRINCIPLES OF CMH
PROVISION OF LEAST RESTRICTIVE MENTAL HEALTH CARE

Such provisions of least restrictive mental health care and open access of
the health care as and when required being provided in the form of the health
insurance is encouraging for the students to seek support without much
hesitation.
As well as it helps in timely identification of the problems and its
appropriate treatment in various forms like counseling from the psychiatrists
as well as physicians if required
Such provisions of least restrictive mental health care and open access of
the health care as and when required being provided in the form of the health
insurance is encouraging for the students to seek support without much
hesitation.
As well as it helps in timely identification of the problems and its
appropriate treatment in various forms like counseling from the psychiatrists
as well as physicians if required
 COMPATIBILITY OF THE PROGRAM WITH PRINCIPLES OF CMH
SELF DETERMINATION
Promoting self-determination has been recognized as best practice in the education
for those with disabilities since the early 1990s, when the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) mandated increased student involvement.
Giving verbal and written information (in an accessible language) to patient about
the treatment; detailed verbal explanations should be provided to patients unable to
read. This makes students getting more involved in taking decisions after identifying
any mental stress condition
Promoting self-determination- Students will need to take more control over and
responsibility for their lives.
An understanding of one's strengths and limitations, together with a belief of oneself
as capable and effective . Self-determined people are actors in their own lives instead
of being acted upon by others.
In our study group this is highly applicable, looking at the aspiring students from
diffuse social and educational, geographical backgrounds.
Encouraging students to make decisions that affect their day-to-day activities,
including academic goals, post-school outcomes, schedules, and others.
Emphasizing the link between goals that students set and the daily decisions and
choices they make, and teach them to break long-term goals into short-term
objectives.
Qualified Decision-Maker
Decision-makers acting in official capacity or surrogate (consent-giving) capacity (e.g.
relative, friend, guardian) shall be qualified to do so.
 COMPATIBILITY OF THE PROGRAM WITH PRINCIPLES OF CMH
RESPECT OF THE RULE OF LAW

a. Informing patients about their rights;

b. Making sure that relevant legal instruments are disseminated i.e. published
and explained to the needy students
To conclude, some suggestions to improve the academic life:
•Manage time. Proper time management is one of the most effective stress-
relieving techniques
•Exercise and get some air.
•Stay positive.
•Organize your academic life.
•Stop procrastinating.
•Take one step at a time.
•Spend time with friends.
•Water therapy.
•Do things you love.
MAKE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH A PRIORITY
 REFERENCES

1. (Nami, Y., Nami, M., S., Eishani, K., A., (2013)(Sibnath, Strodl, & Sun, 2015)

2. https://positivepsychology.com/mental-health-activities-worksheets-books/

3. https://www.google.com/url?
https://www.google.com/url?
q=https://www.summerboardingcourses.co.uk/blog/100-fun-activities-health-and-
wellbeing-activities/&usg=AFQjCNGke_V9EnVKuMytZTk78tcTRdYkHA

4.https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:mental%20health
%20awareness%20activities
5.MENTAL HEALTH CARE LAW: TEN BASIC PRINCIPLES
https://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/75.pdf
6.Predictors of stress in college students
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5263159/
7.Self-Determination and the Education of Students with Disabilities
http://eric.hoagiesgifted.org