Parents, Equip Your Child For A Changing World

'Make your child solve his/her problems on his/her own. Let the child see parenting as a partnership between you and your child.'

According to a survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research in 2024 high level of academic stress among Indian students is causing anxiety and mood swings.

It says that the mental well-being of students is further accentuated by inadequate access to mental health support within educational institutions.

The report points out that while the overall suicide numbers increased by 2% annually, suicides among students surged by 4%.

At the IC3 Conference and Expo 2024, a report based on the National Crime Records Bureau data was released, titled Student Suicides: An Epidemic Sweeping India.

It is against this background that the online platform LiveMind (external link) started by serial entrepreneur Nithin Kumar, a certified professional in social and emotional learning (SEL) and suicide prevention techniques endorsed by Cambridge University, aimed at the mental well-being of students, gains significance.

The starting point

My venture SkillMore (external link) has this 'Campus to Corporate' programme for college students aimed at empowering students with knowledge, skills like effective communication, time management, stress management, team dynamics, work dynamics and confidence needed for a successful transition of students from campus to corporate life.

It was while conducting these programmes for school students that some parents expressed their concern about the stressful life of students which sometimes lead to suicidal tendencies.

Another worry parents have these days is drug abuse among school children.

Coincidentally, Mak, an entrepreneur friend of mine, urged me to do something in 'mind matters.'

That was how both of us decided to start LiveMind which is a holistic B2C and also B2B initiative.

We are part of the Start-up India and Kerala Start up Mission.

'Mind Matters' for school children

The program 'Mind Matters' is a one-on-one support for school children on mental health and resilience.

The idea is to catch them young so that they don't suffer when they get older.

Though we do one-to-one counselling, the programmes are conducted for a group of 10 or less than 10 students. That's the reason we prefer to conduct these classes in schools.

We have designed three programmes: Foundation, Spark and Empower.

They deal with responsible living, gender respect, cyber security and money management. We take classes through case studies and real-world experience to students from the 8th standard onwards.

A simpler programme is designed for smaller children from the 4th to 7th standards.

The objective is to make each student realise how he or she can be a good person.

Aware, realise and react

An incident that happened in a school in Kochi is one of my case studies.

When this 8th standard girl found herself unable to focus on her studies, her friend who is a 12th standard student gave her a chocolate and said that would help her concentrate.

And it did. But she needed to take the chocolates regularly so that she could focus very well.

Soon, she became addicted to the chocolate.

As you have guessed, the chocolate was actually a drug.

Then her friend connected her to the drug peddler. In no time, she became a slave to the peddler who started taking advantage of her.

So, our goal is to make students aware, realise and react to every situation wisely.

We want to make them say 'no' when the reaction has to be a 'no'.

Not just school children, but adults too

Though we started solely for school children, we now have programmes for corporates and adults too.

Apex Mind, the programme designed for the corporate sector, is activities-based training which can act as stress busters as every problem they face is due to stress.

Ambition

We want to create a stress-free environment for students because that is where we have to start first.

We hear about many young professionals ending their lives unable to bear the stress they encounter at work.

We are sure we will be able to help many individuals in a big way.

We are taking these small steps so that the society we live in, is relatively stress-free.

Words of caution for school students:

*Embrace learning beyond textbooks, discover and build your unique strengths, and adopt a mindset that enables overall growth.

College students

*Prepare for the transition to professional life, be curious and keep learning, and develop your personal brand.

Young professionals

*Cultivate an emotional mindset so that problem-solving and decision making would be your power. Also, invest in continuous self-development and learning.

Parents

*Equip your child for a changing world. Make your child solve his/her problems on his/her own. Let the child see parenting as a partnership between you and your child.

Instil ethical values, respect and empathy in your child.

Focus on the child's life skills rather than on academics.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com