The “Live Love Laugh Foundation”, a Non-Government Organization initiated by famous film personality, Ms. Deepika Padukone conducted a workshop on 5th April 2016 at GIIS Whitefield Bangalore campus for the teachers. The workshop introduced the teaching faculty to clinical depression in students and how to destigmatize mental health concerns.

The facilitator, Ms. Jalaja Pillai began the session by introducing the audience to the objective of the foundation, which is to destigmatize mental health and be sensitive to its conditions. She further elaborated on ways to initiate a healthy conversation about mental health with parents and the steps to facilitate effective help and support for students. She showed a short video film of model, actress and social activist Ms. Deepika Padukone on how the star battled depression and how she recovered from it. The video was enlightening and it was also heart warming to see how Ms. Padukone wanted to help people with depression stating her own example. Ms. Pillai shared a couple of case studies from real-life occurrences, starting from identifying the symptoms to the final cure. The focus remained on the role of teachers in helping a child overcome his or her problems. Over the course of the session, Ms. Pillai helped the teachers understand the ways to identify symptoms in children and the different techniques that they could use to help the students overcome their problems. Some common indicators to look out for were; sudden decline in academic performance, signs of self-harm or self-injury, a fixation with death or violence that manifests in creative writing or art, sudden change in personality, using abusive language, signs of eating disorders and neglect of personal grooming, anxiety and restlessness. The next step would be to monitor such symptoms for a period of two weeks before recommending for further analysis to the School Counsellor and eventually discussing with the parents.

The teachers felt more equipped to deal with such cases as they have been given the tools to identify issues and call out signals that would make them naturally more observant. The session was conducted marvellously by Ms. Pillai who was full of enthusiasm and she handled all the queries with ease. The workshop was an eye opener and it gave valuable insights into identifying children who would need timely intervention.

The motto of the Foundation "You are not alone" will be followed in words and spirit by the teachers of GIIS Whitefield, Bangalore. Teacher Development Plan is an important area of focus at GIIS. It is a systematic and a continuous process which helps teachers remain current and updated, so that in the capacity of lead learners they can facilitate quality learning in their students.