Madras Univ launches free counselling to help students, faculty members beat stress

CHENNAI: The University of Madras has launched free counselling for students, faculty members and non-teaching staff who are reportedly under stress after being forced to remain at home for a long period.

This initiative, organised by the Department of Counselling Psychology, will be related to COVID-19 pandemic situation and how to fight against the virus.

University officials said the counselling would be given by experts in more than six different languages, including Tamil, English, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.

A senior staff from the university said students and staff were under stress after being forced to continue remaining at home due to the lockdown. Hence, the decision was taken to launch the counselling initiative titled “It’s okay to ask for help — you don’t have to fight your battle alone. Talk to us.”

“Continuing to hold online classes while simultaneously ensuring that students were actively participating in it was a difficult task for the faculty members. Therefore, our institution decided to safeguard the mental, emotional and physical welfare of both students and faculty,” said the official, adding that non-teaching staff of the institutions would also be able to attend free counselling sessions.

The sessions would be held between 10 am and 4 pm on all days, he said. “The six counsellors will handle the calls from the students and faculty members who require advice,” he said.

“During the analysis interview in the first meeting, a series of questions will be asked, which would help assess the general state of mind of the caller. All the required tips will be given to them to overcome the stress, and also counsel them to divert their attention to various activities that they like,” the official added.

Continuing to hold online classes while simultaneously ensuring that students were actively participating in them was a difficult task for the faculty members

—Senior staff of University