The Manodarpan Scheme is also known as the Mental Health Initiative launched under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan by the Ministry of Human Resources Development. It was launched under the able leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to provide psychological support to students, family members, professors, and teachers for mental health betterment and well-being during and post covid situations.
It was put in place shortly after August of 2020 and has seen immense progress when measuring the number of people helped.
The scheme includes a national toll-free helpline number for students that attend school colleges and universities and will be handled by a team of experienced psychologists and counselor mental health professionals. It also comes with the website a national database for counselors which will host an interactive online chat platform along with advisories and tips in form of web banners and pre-recorded guidelines to provide support. It became famous in the news because it talked about a taboo which is mental health within the country amongst a very sensitive age bracket that is of students who attend schools and colleges for stop.
The benefit of the scheme is that it will act as an initiative that strengthens human capital while enhancing productivity in the education sector during and after the covid-19 pandemic. The need for the initiative arose when schools and colleges shut down in a drastic manner stradling millions of students at home without any interaction with the outside world and their friends and teachers. Even parents fell short of conversations when they were standard for months at a time during lockdown send the pandemic. This did not only affect their social well-being but also their productivity, efficiency to complete tasks, and inclination to take up experiments.
The special focus has been laid on students and adolescents who may have experienced heightened levels of anxiety of your fullness, commerce, stress along with a range of other emotional and behavioral issues. The ministers in charge emphasized education on the academic front but also the mental well-being of students. Working group which consists of experts from different fields of psychology, common mental health, and education are its members and will monitor to promote mental health betterment habits.
A web page has been set up which consists of tips, podcast advisories, videos, podcasts, do’s and don’ts for psychological support along with a section on the frequently asked questions and online inquiry system. A national toll-free helpline number is 8448440632 has also been made operational. The helpline is solely managed by a group of experienced and certified counselors and psychologists who provide solutions for better mental health statuses for students under stressful situations. Telecounseling is the service that will be provided to fight all concerns.
Features of the Manodarpan Initiative include advisory guidelines, a National database, and directory for counselors, a National toll-free helpline number coma a handbook on psychological support which enriches life skills, interactive online chat platforms, webinars audiovisual resources including videos posters flyers comics, and short films.