Indian Medical Association, Goa State Branch in its continued efforts to serve the state of Goa with public health initiatives; has teamed up with Directorate of Education, Government of Goa and Sangath NGO to organise a workshop on “Parenting Skills and Stress Management”. The workshop will be held on 20th January 2024 at Menezes Braganza Hall, Panaji at 3 PM.
Disclosing the details at the Curtain-raiser press conference on the initiative of ‘Paalak Mitra….Fostering Child:Parent Relations’, IMA Goa state branch revealed that the workshop is part of the year-long series of activities intended to be undertaken in sync with the ‘Be Kind to your Mind’ theme for the year 2024.
Eminent psychologists – Urvita Bhatia, and Kedar Mirchandani from Sangath Goa; shall be speaking at the workshop which will be attended by a diverse group of teachers, parents and general public. Shailesh Zingade, Director of Education, Government of Goa, explained that Government of Goa is committed towards well-being of teachers and students. He added that government has appointed special counsellors for schools to monitor the psychological health of children and address any issues in this domain. “Paalak Mitra” is a one of a kind initiative which will enable students, teachers as well as parents to understand the topic better. Dr Sandesh Chodankar, President IMA Goa thanked the members of the press for highlighting the issue as mental well-being should be the priority of all citizens. He assured that IMA Goa will undertake many such initiatives in future to sensitise the public on importance of stress-free life. Dr Vikram Patel, Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School and a Chief Mentor of IMA Goa on Mental Health initiatives, expressed gratitude towards Directorate of Education, Government of Goa and IMA Goa state branch for inculcating mental health and phycological well-being as a theme for this year. He reminisced on the fact that the state government current mental health counselling programme for education department is based on the efforts of Sangath NGO co-founded by him. Dr Shekhar Salkar, President IMA Bicholim urged the media to give maximum coverage to
this initiative as parenting skills and stress management are of prime importance to grow as a society. He added that teachers are in the best position to judge the child for any abnormal behavioural changes, and said that IMA Goa state plans on providing certification-based skilling
for teachers on mental health. “This will self-empower teachers to create a stress-free environment both in schools and personal lives,” asserted Dr Salkar.
