“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
On 20th January evening, the Counselling Service conducted the session “From Lost To Found” under the ongoing SAMVAD initiative. The event started with a video of the personal account of a student who had faced severe mental health issues during and after his summer internship. This was followed by a panel discussion on the problems faced by students at IIT Kanpur. The panel consisted of students and counselors at our college. Questions were taken from the audience on placards and were addressed by the panelists.
It was followed by the narration of an anonymous account of a student who has been struggling with depression and anxiety for years now.
It was the story of a Ph.D. student, who immediately struggled with the grading scheme of IIT Kanpur the moment he came here. He already had anxiety problems beforehand but here it was intertwined with depression. He sought counseling in the first semester itself and it took him a year to improve bit by bit. Even as he found himself improving, a catastrophe stormed him back to his old place. And in between the cry and pain, yet again he gathered the courage to call his counselor, to ask for assistance. Thus began another journey of improvement. This time, hopefully, one that lasted. That’s just how these things are. You never know what will happen but you gotta keep trying.
Through personal insights, he observed that talking, to anyone, helped him a lot. Some thoughts in your brain aren’t very good for you. They need to be shared. And one has to muster the courage to pick up his phone and call that person in his life he can count on. That is the essence of counseling. Reach out and simply talk.
Towards the end, our NCC Chief, Lt. Colonel Ashok Mor, who was sitting in the audience, narrated an immensely courageous account of his own life. He shared with everyone the story of how he met with a horrific accident where he lost one of his legs and how he was able to get back at his feet again, despite all odds.
The event was concluded by a thank you note from the Head of Counselling Service, Prof. Nandini Nilakantan.
The aim of the session was to make people at ease with problems surrounding mental health and encourage them to talk about the problems they face in their own lives. The initiative, SAMVAD, a talk and discussion series aiming to spread mental health awareness on campus and to initiate associated discussions among the community was started by the Counselling Service last year.
Credits: Hemant Kejriwal
