Ek Nai Subha V2.

0 – Facilitator Guidelines
Thank you for taking this workshop/webinar. Before you conduct the session, request you to go through
the following pointers to deliver this session effectively.
• Objective of session:
• To create awareness about mental health and mental health challenges
• To improve help seeking behavior
• Age group: 15 +
• Duration: 30 – 40 minutes (Excluding FAQs)
• Group size: 5 – 25 People
• Session has following 5 key messages:
• Mental health is part of your daily living
• Mental health challenges impact the way you think, feel, and behave
• Use increase or decrease method to identify if you or your loved one are going through
some mental health challenges
• You can deal with mental health challenges by practicing self-care and seeking
professional help
• Seeking professional help means seeking clarity in some areas of your life and learning
new techniques to cope with difficult situations
• Mandatory slides:
• Slide 3: Health
• Slide 7: Increase – decrease methods
• Slide 8: Normal to Illness
• Slide 9, 10 and 11: Self-management and professional help
• Slide 13 – Helpline details
• Each slide has some talking points that can help you to curate your sessions as per your
convenience and delivery mode.
• There are 3 activities during the session – you can skip, modify, or add any other relevant
activities based on your group need and/or availability of resources.
• You can include relevant videos, memes, and graphics in the presentation.
• Post session you can distribute helpline numbers (if hard copies are not possible then e-
distribute it or share it with one group, assigning them responsibility to pass it on to others)
• Good luck! You are doing great work!
Slide 1: Title Slide

Ek Nai Subha

Slide 2: Activity 1: Mental health and our association with It!

Material: white / black board / Flipchart, chalk / marker, colour paper chits with categories (People,
movie, song, idea, celebrities, book, word, colour – can add more)

Step 1: write word “Mental Health” in bold on black/white board

Step 2: Distribute chits

− Instruction: I am distributing these chits which have certain categories in it. You have to describe
mental health to all of us as per category mentioned in your chit. For example: if you receive a
chit with category “Movie” – what movie you can think of when you hear word mental health. I
can think of “woh lamhe” or “Kyunki”

Or if you receive a chit with “people” – who you can think of? “Donald Trump” or “Dalia Lama”

Step 3: Summarize / Transition:

o We did this exercise to identify all the things we think of when we hear the word
“mental health.”

o It is important to know how we think about mental health to be able to have an honest
conversation about the topic. Let us do little analysis by identifying positive/negative
and neutral connection with our ideas.

o Most of see “Mental health” in negative connection? You say mental health and you
think about depression/ anxiety / mental hospital etc. we get to think about worst-case
scenarios, suicide, or diagnoses of mental health disorders.

o what we have to understand is Mental health is not about having a problem. Mental
health is not separate from Health!!!

Slide 3: Health (Physical + Mental)

When we talk about health? We all think of Physical health! Because we hear these things around us
“His health is not good” “She has some health issues” etc. and it means – he or she either has a cold or a
back pain – for years we have seen health as physical health only !!!!

And yes, you need to be physically fit to perform your day to day activities – but things that require your
physical strength also require mental efforts – you cannot separate mental health from health ! WHO
said: There is no health without mental health – let's understand this:

Morning, you wake up – to get out of bed, to be able to move you require physical muscles and
movement – but have you ever experienced that some days you just don’t feel like leaving the bed or
stay in bed because you are feeling low or sometimes you just wake up fresh and happy and want to
conquer the entire world - that’s mental health!
So, in all your tasks from maintaining personal hygiene to social activities – sleep wake cycle – whatever
you do in 24 hours – has mental health

E.g., I have all the resources to take a bath – I am physically fit to walk to the bathroom and take a
shower – But if you aren't in the mood then what happens? You skip taking a bath for that day!

Or You can add other similar examples – linking daily activities with physical/mental health!

Technically – everything you do involves mental health – Mental health is all about your daily living -
Mental health refers to successful maintenance of mental activities like what you think, feel, behave etc.
It helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.

Slide 4: What impacts Mental Health

But the way despite doing everything eating healthy food, regular exercise etc. nobody can give you
guarantee that you will not fall sick or catch a cold – We all become physically unwell -when there is
change in climate, weak immunity, or other external factors like you eat or drink something which
doesn’t go well with your system or heredity illness like diabetes etc.

Similarly – beyond our genes, our mental health is fundamentally shaped by two sets of circumstances

1. The deeply personal experiences that define us. Our mental health can be influenced
by our family, our relationships and how we see ourselves. 2. The social circumstances we find ourselves
in. This includes poverty, violence and employment or difficult situations such as the death of a loved
one, job loss or breakup with a partner etc. can contribute or influence our mental health.

This interaction of our biology and our circumstances is key to our health. And it can either protect our
mental health or be a risk to it.

While mental health is always there and may be positive or negative, mental illness affects a person’s
ability to function over a long period of time.

Good mental health means being generally able to think, feel and react in the ways that you need and
want to live your life.

Slide 5: Mental health challenges – think, feel, behave

But if you go through a period of poor mental health, you might find the ways you’re frequently
thinking, feeling or reacting become difficult, or even impossible, to cope with.
You will frequently experience feelings of sadness, loneliness, panic – you might find it to difficult to
celebrate or enjoy anything
Your thinking will become more negative, and you will have thoughts like: “Nobody will ever understand
me” or “It always happens with me – I am alone” etc. You will find it difficult to make any decision –
simple problem solving will also be too much for you – sometimes you might have suicidal thoughts as
well!
Your thoughts, feelings and behaviors are connected – so if you are feeling low and you have intrusive
thoughts it will exhibit in your behavior – like sleeping more or binge eating, or you don’t want to go out
and meet people etc.
Mental health challenges and issues are very common – almost every 1 in 4 experience any form of
mental health challenges
Slide 6: Activity 2: How common MH challenges are?

Materials: 3 big glass / transparent bowls – and 3 plates/ bowl, wheat (1/4 of the bowl), black beans (3/4
of the bowl)
Step 1: Wheat quantity – fill ¾ bowl with wheat (1 bowl) – represent the people (population)
Black bean – fill second bowl with ¼ with black bean - represent people who have mental health
challenges – i.e., 1 in 4 people
Step 2: Let’s mix it: Now this represents entire population (Pour wheat and black bean together in bowl
three and mix it)
Step 3: Name 3 small bowls (family / friends and social / work) Take a small portion from a big bowl
(population) and put it into each plate one by one! Instructions: This shows that even if you don’t have
any mental health challenges, you have brushed your shoulders in your life span with people who
were/are going through one.
This shows Mental health challenges and issues are very common. It’s important to talk about mental
health and get help early if things don’t feel right, just like we would for our physical health.
Now the question is – Okay! I know MH is important and I know MH challenges can impact your
thoughts, feelings and behaviour but how will I know that I or my loved one are going through one?
Slide 7: Identification: Diversion from Normal

There is a simple thumb rule to identify this – increase and decrease method!
So, for example, if someone's normal is that they sleep every day for 7 hours, consuming 3-time proper
meal, on an average doing 8 tasks in a day – attend JK and go out with friends…
They will: for example: sleeping now for 14 hours – or not getting enough sleep during night
Or they are binge eating (increase in food intake)
Or they are performing from 8 – to only 3 tasks a day (decrease in performance)
And this isn’t only 1 or 2 day – it's been happening for more than 2 weeks – this can work as an indicator
that you or someone is going through MH challenges.
Slide 8: Normal ----- illness

Now, we all feel low – sad – anxious sometimes – can we call it MH illness or issue? No – we cannot –
feeling sad, anxious, worry, etc. for some time is normal – when we face set back – we feel low – for
example: your exam results are out – you did not score good marks – you will be sad, or you were
hoping some project to get – but you did not get that project – you will be sad for a while – its normal
but if this sadness stays longer and one exhibit or observe symptoms like: They are sad all the time–
they are not participating in activities which they used to enjoy earlier, or they complain about constant
pains and ache and whenever you talk to them you hear things like: “I am a loser” “etc. If these
symptoms persist for longer period of time, then it might indicate that you or the person is going
towards mental health challenges (Depression)
Similarly – having a worry or feeling anxious for time being is normal – but if its persistent and you get
anxious about smallest of event and it's affecting your sleep, you are experiencing muscle tension and
you are constantly thinking that negative outcomes will happen – this can be a sign of Mental health
challenge (Anxiety)
Slide 9: Self-Management – Must!

For self-management – you need to first change your lifestyle: physical activities, diet and nutrition and
sleep hygiene are must!!!

Slide 10: Self-Management – Good to have

When we are extremely worried or sad our brain only focuses on the past tragic events and completely
excludes positive experiences – It is called binocular effect – to break this effect you can do two things:
1. Schedule a pleasant or pleasurable activities:
It may help in two different ways:
• The act of scheduling an activity may give the individual something to look forward to. As
soon as they make plans, they may experience a boost in mood.
• Then, when they engage in the activity, they’re likely to experience an even brighter mood
which can help them break out of a downward spiral.
Pleasurable activities in 3 categories: Physical, fun and mastery - Physical activities are those which
involve getting up and moving around. This doesn’t have to mean running a marathon. It could mean
walking the dog, gardening, or dancing. Fun or pleasant activities are those which, quite simply, you fully
enjoy. This might be watching a great film, reading a book, baking a cake, gaming, or a bit of pampering.
Mastery or achievement activities are those which give you a sense of accomplishment, such as learning
a new skill, doing something creative or getting your chores done.
Secondly, build social connections - As social beings, we thrive in a supportive community. social
connectedness - generates a positive feedback loop of social, emotional, and physical well-being.
Ultimately, people who are connected with friends, family, support groups, and their community
usually:
• Have lower rates of depression and anxiety
• Feel more empathetic towards others
• Have higher self-esteem
• Are more trusting towards others
• Exhibit less antisocial behavior
• Have lower rates of suicide and suicidal behaviors
So, make an effort to call two people each day, join an online support group, or schedule a coffee date
with a friend, there are tons of ways to stay connected.
Slide 11: Professional Help – What does it look like !

And lastly, seek professional help – if you continue to experience low and sad mood for more than 2
weeks, feeling anxious frequently or your functionality is getting impacted like it's difficult for you to get
up and take shower or prepare your meal or having frequent anger outburst that’s impacting your
relationship!
There are 2 types of help available – one is medicine and second is talking therapy!
Think of it as tuition classes – in school we had 8-9 subjects – we weren’t masters in all subjects – so for
Math or Science etc we took tuitions or coaching – Right? Similarly in life we are not well versed with
dealing with all issues – talking to a therapist might help you to bring some perspective and learn new
strategies to cope better.
Slide 12: Professional Help – Various Reasons for which you can seek help!

You can reach out to a therapist or a mental health coach for various reasons like if you are having
relationship issues or some past or recent trauma, or you want to work on your self-esteem or self-
confidence as well! You need to immediately talk to a therapist or mental health coach if you are feeling
suicidal or having suicide ideation.

Slide 13: Where can I seek help!

Some helplines are:

Slide 14: How to help others?

You can also help others in seeking help by breaking the stigma barrier around MH issues – For this you
need to:

1. Develop and normalize help seeking attitude:

2. Be empathetic

3. Provide resources

It’s very important to understand that when you are asking someone to seek help you are not judging
them – you can use statements like:

What do you think about the idea of going to therapy?

Can we get some support? Give it a try. You have nothing to lose.”

“What you’re doing now is not working /is not healthy. Learning some new strategies to cope might
help”.

“Many people use the counseling services every year and these services are confidential.”

Sounds like you are really struggling with________. That’s really a lot to deal with, talking it over with a
counselor might help.”

Slide 15: Activity 3: Exposure!

The goal of this activity is to learn more about the mental health challenges which people around us go
through silently!

Step 1: Instructions: Distribute colourful chits and instruct that sometimes we are not aware other
people are going through the same difficulty we have experienced. This will be completely
anonymous. The work in this activity should be confidential to the group. Each person present in this
group should write on the mental health challenge / issue / concern he / she is facing currently.

Step 2: collecting all the notes and shuffling them: Iinstructions:

o I hope everyone is done with writing now just pass me these papers so that I can shuffle them
up.

o Next step is I’ll distribute them again and you have to read aloud the issue written on a paper
loudly to your group member. It's ok if you get your own paper.

o After all concerns have been read aloud, each member of the group will say one word or
thought that stayed with what was shared.

Step 3: Summarize / Transition:

● Everyone’s experience varies in mental health.

● its essential to address mental health challenges openly and honestly.

● Stigma related to mental health / help seeking behaviour affects all of us.

● It is time for us to start paying attention to our mental health as a community and have a
positive approach towards mental health instead of a “problem focused” approach

Slide 16:

Thank You!