KOCHI: Mental health literacy will be the topic of discussion when experts from different disciplines meet during a week-long virtual conference that began on Wednesday. The conference, organised by the NGO MeHeLP India, is aimed at sharing the findings of the three-year journey of mental health literacy in urban and rural Kerala and to engage with communities, NGOs, policymakers, and other stakeholders.
The free online interactive conference is divided into two sets, one for the Kerala context that will be held on three days beginning Wednesday and the other for the pan-India context which will be held on October 25, 26 and 27. The virtual meet has been scheduled to be held from 3.45pm to 7.50pm each day. The first session of talks will be followed by workshops and panel discussions.
MeHeLP India is a collaborative international partnership project between India and UK. The team is led by Raghu Raghavan, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.
Over the past three years, the project worked towards developing culturally appropriate mental health literacy in the rural, urban, and tribal communities in Kerala. The study, the first of its kind both in India and Kerala, engaged with people accessing mental health support, their families, and local communities. It provided theatre, story-telling, and film-based platforms through which community engagement was made possible.
"Mental health is everybody's business. All of us have to create our own mental health. I initiated the MeHeLP project in 2018 because I wanted to give back something to my native land. This international research project has helped me in India to engage in fearless talk on mental health, well-being and cultural construction of mental health literacy," said Raghu Raghavan. More details can be accessed at https://www.mdc2021.mehelp.in/