An article by Neha Kaushal
ISW-WEW organized this event on Saturday, April 8 th from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.
The chair of the program, Prof. Snehalata Kadam, along with our executive committee member Mrs. Anupama Deb Roy, welcomed the guests and the team members, Mrs. Neha Kaushal, Mrs. Kajal Kaushik and Mrs. Pooja Rathi, with a brief introduction about Women Empowering Women program’s mission and vision, and the importance of the much-needed event topic ‘Mental Well-Being’, in today’s world.
The event was then kicked off by our panelists, Dr. Kalyani Krishnan, Dr. Pooja Saraff and Dr. Ami Popat-Jain, introducing themselves to the audience. The panel discussion started with avery simple yet curious question – ‘what made you chose this as your career’? One of our panelists, Kalyani Krishnan talked about the unique path and her own inquisitiveness that led her to complete six degrees along with a PhD, and how she wanted to understand the holistic view of one’s emotions, before she could help them, she very specifically mentioned ‘I view you all as experts of your own life’….!
Neha Kaushal & Snehalata Kadam, the event moderator, then engaged the panelists with a question that comes to every individual’s mind – ‘What is mental health? When do we know we need to work on our mental health’? Pooja Saraff, our panelists mentioned ‘when you’re not feeling yourself, and its starting to affect your life’, that’s your first flag. The highlight of this discussion was ‘Don’t set the threshold too high to go see a therapist, and it’s ok to seek help’, as Ami Popat-Jain quoted. The discussion ranged from what the panelists had seen over the past two years, specially post pandemic, how it affected the social anxiety issues in different parts of the society, how kids missed out on their social development with their peers during the pandemic, and how as individuals we are all still trying to settle back and bring back normalcy in our own lives.
A key aspect of this event was when the floor was opened to the hall full of audiences, that ranged from some teenagers, young professionals, curious parents and even grandparents. We had questions ranging from how do we get our grandkids to get away from screen time, to the three top reasons for mental health issues in the past five years, to raising awareness in the community, and how the younger generation is more aware and open to talking about mental health well-being, etc. The event concluded by providing the audience with some useful information on how to find a psychologist, family therapists, and sharing the contact information of our panelists.
If you missed out on the event, here is a link to watch the recording: https://www.facebook.com/iswonline/videos/610174184001898.
Please feel free to reach out to us if you would like to get in touch with the panelists for further communication.
