Summary
The festival features activities with books, music, theatre, poetry and community initiatives
To attend the sessions on Zoom, register by January 28, 4pm
Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health is one of India’s oldest mental health institutions
The Youth Wellness Hub of Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health (LGBRIMH), Tezpur, is back with the third edition of its Yuva Mann Meet Wellness Festival.
The virtual festival, to be held on January 29 and 30 on Zoom, has lined up a wide variety of sessions to offer holistic well-being to youngsters. Registrations are open for students from all over India, with a specific focus on the Northeast region. Sign up by January 28, 4pm, to attend the sessions.
The Youth Wellness Hub (HUB) is a youth-centric, easily accessible, inclusive, walk-in mental healthcare space that was launched at LGBRIMH three years ago. The aim is to expand mental health support beyond the existing system of formal therapeutic space.
“After the inaugural edition of the festival, which happened offline in November 2019, HUB quickly adapted to the blended approach of conducting its activities and annual festivals. The first edition of the festival was intended to claim a legitimate space for youth mental health discourse, using the language of wellness, and thereby expand the horizon of mental health in its true sense of ‘health’, not illness. The second virtual edition that happened in December 2020 focused on holding on to hope in a pandemic-infused alienating world with the theme of ‘Bridging hearts, being miles apart’,” said Diptarup Chowdhury, coordinator of HUB and associate professor of Clinical Psychology at LGBRIMH, one of the oldest mental health institutions in India.
“As HUB realised that it needs to learn to live with Covid, the third edition of the festival took a bold step by not just thinking of ourselves during these difficult times but renewing commitments towards the care of others. The theme of this year’s festival thus puts forward the idea of collective care with its theme of ‘Rooting for each other; Linking communities of care’,” Chowdhury added.
With this objective, the two-day Yuva Mann Meet Wellness Festival 2021-22 has sessions on books, music and mental health, community well-being, theatre, healing art and poetry, apart from open mic.
The activities include a books session with occupational therapist and children’s book author Raviraj Shetty; interactive theatre with Ravi Ramaswamy; music with Arghadeep, Riaz and Poulami; healing art with Ankur Choudhury and Sneha Doijad, and poetry with spoken word poet Angshuman Sarma.
The events line-up of the Yuva Mann Meet Wellness Festival 2021-22, to be held virtually Source : Facebook
“The HUB space could potentially be a template for schools and colleges, especially in smaller towns and rural areas where mental health and wellbeing resources are scarce. Other than low-cost, the two important factors that could help sustain such an initiative are continued innovation with a spirit of entrepreneurship shown by the youth themselves with the support by teachers and parents, and inspiration to improve self and others mental health and well-being by realising that mental health is fundamental,” said Sonia P. Deuri, the chairperson of HUB and professor of Psychiatric Social Work at LGBRIMH.
The Yuva Mann Meet Wellness Festival 2021-22 is curated by mental health trainees, PhD scholars and faculty members of LGBRIMH as well as collaborative partners from the department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Tezpur University, and Green Hub, Tezpur. The role of mental health trainees and scholars primarily lies in coordination, ideation and a lot of groundwork with the guidance of faculty members.
Click here to sign up for the Yuva Mann Meet Wellness Festival: https://forms.gle/e4ycTHwr15FCA6oZ7
Last updated on 25 Jan 2022
