“Muskurayega India” centre launched at KKC
THE CENTRE WILL CATER TO NOT ONLY STUDENTS OF THE COLLEGE BUT OTHER YOUTHS TOO
LUCKNOW : A “Muskurayega India” (MI) centre was launched at Shri Jai Narayan Mishra Post Graduate Degree College, also known as Kanyakubj College (KKC), Charbagh, here on Thursday. The centre is a part of “Muskurayega India” initiative of the National Service Scheme (NSS) and UNICEF that provided psychosocial counselling and promoted mental health among the youth and community during the pandemic.
The centre will cater to not only students of the college but other youth and adolescents also. Talking about the initiative, Dr Amit Mehrotra, OIC, chief UNICEF field office for Uttar Pradesh, said, “The Covid19
pandemic impacted millions globally. Families lost livelihoods, suffered deaths of loved ones while children remained out of school for nearly two years with many of them not returning to school. In this environment of uncertainty, it was important to bring the focus on mental stress and trauma.”
“‘Muskurayega India’ was conceptualised by NSS and UNICEF in April 2020 to make available the much-needed psychosocial counselling. We are grateful to the experts who volunteered their time for MI,” he added.Initially, MI started with district specific helplines and later an interactive voice response system (IVRS) was introduced. People would call on the numbers and a team of experts would provide them the necessary counselling support.
“Muskurayega India is a unique, one-of-its-kind largest team intervention in the field of mental health awareness in India. Today, over 120 committed and specially trained university teachers of NSS Uttar Pradesh are contributing as Muskurayega India counsellors in different districts of Uttar Pradesh,” said Bhai Shelly, social and behaviour change specialist at UNICEF. MI counsellors are currently present in 69 districts and 35 universities of Uttar Pradesh. Counselling services have been provided to over 5500 people through the initiative.
“The response from people has been amazing. There have been so many stories of people who overcame their fears and anxieties through the counselling provided as part of the initiative. It was due to this overwhelming response from callers that the need of a physical centre was felt,” said Rashmi Soni, incharge of the MI centre at KKC and a core member of “Muskurayega India”. As per the plan, similar centres would be launched in various colleges and universities across the state to ensure counselling and psycho social support to youngsters and students.