Developing a mental wellness platform for college students

Abstract

Emotional, Psychological, and Social Well-being together constitute Mental Health. Our mental health helps decide how we cope with tension, how we relate to others, and how we make choices. From childhood to adolescence to adulthood, mental well-being is essential at all stages of life. For many students attending college can be a challenging time. In addition to coping with loads of academic pressure, students might also have to deal with the stressful tasks of separating and individualizing themselves from their family of origin. In contrast, some may have to take on numerous responsibilities in the work and family. In this sense, many college students experience the first signs of mental health and drug use problems, or their symptoms escalate. It's a different life stage; there are too many expectations, the pressure to deliver, personal and professional problems leads to temporary setbacks. one can overcome these temporary setbacks by taking help from people. We believe that these problems can be solved by one of three people depending on the severity of the problem: 1) Peers, 2) Counselors, and 3) Psychiatrists. We aim to help the students dealing with mental health issues by – ● Getting rid of the stigma associated with Mental Health. ● Changing the attitude towards mental health issues. ● Identifying depression cases and tackling them. ● Providing a one-stop, safe space for students. ● Connecting them with the right person who can help. A study was conducted in 2016 to ascertain the level of depression among university students across gender, academic stream, semesters, perception of family environment and relationship with parents, academic performance, and family income. A total of 717 students were recruited following the multistage cluster sampling method, and data were collected by a specially designed structured questionnaire, academic achievement record, and a standardized University Students Depression Inventory. Findings disclosed that 37.7%, 13.1%, and 2.4% of the students were suffering from moderate, severe, and extremely severe depression. We have addressed these issues through this project and provide a customized solution in the form of a platform for college students (starting with but not limited to IIM Ahmedabad). While doing so, we involved all relevant stakeholders and incorporated their feedback.