Med colleges to have mentorship programme | Mumbai News

Med colleges to have mentorship programme | Mumbai News


MUMBAI: Government medical colleges in the state may soon have mentorship programmes and peer support networks for undergraduate and postgraduate students, to alleviate the increasing concerns over their mental health. The medical education department is planning to involve faculty members in the mentorship programme by giving them adequate training. Two full-time mental health counsellors in the academic block of every college campus may also be made mandatory.

These directives may soon find their way into the department’s standard operating procedure (SOP) document being developed in collaboration with the Maharashtra institute of Mental Health, Pune.



The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), through the SOP, aims to create and foster positive development of students and to create a safe environment for them to speak without any inhibition.

“We intend to train some of the faculty members in behavioural sciences to ensure they are able to identify students suffering with emotional difficulties or are remaining aloof. These mentors will be expected to hold group discussions with students, address their academic difficulties, hostel problems, even food-related concerns.

They may be asked to hold one-on-one meetings with their mentees once in a month,” said an official. The peer support network will involve students. “This will be a voluntary support system,” added the official. Once students with emotional or mental health problems are identified they will be referred to the in-house counsellors.

“We are proposing to have two mental health counsellors in academic blocks of colleges. We want students to approach the counsellors without any inhibitions. The first six months are very difficult for most students as they are adjusting to a new environment. We want to make that transition period smoother,” said the official.

The department’s aim, in proposing the SOP, is identification, treatment, proper support and care for students with mental health issues or other emotional stress, thereby preventing suicides.

A college dean said that some of the colleges have been taking similar initiatives at college level, but it is not yet mandatory. The spate of student suicides has risen across medical colleges in the country in recent months.



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