BPHES’ CSRD ISWR National Seminar 2024
on
‘Holistic health and mental wellbeing: Role of medical and psychiatric social work in India’
on 15-16 November, 2024
Brief report
Introduction
BPHES’ Centre for Studies in Rural Development – Institute of Social Work and Research, Ahilyanagar organised the National Seminar on ‘Holistic Health, Mental Wellbeing and Role of Medical & Psychiatric Social Work in India’ on 15-16, November, 2024. Altogether there were 112 registered participants including the MSW second year students of the Institute. There were 9 sessions including two concurrent sessions, one workshop on healthy campus, 15 plenary talks and 10 paper presentations including one online presentation.
15 November 2024, Friday
During the inaugural session, Dr. Jaimon Varghese, the convenor of the National Seminar briefly told the background of the National Seminar on ‘Holistic health and mental wellbeing: Role of medical and psychiatric social work in India’. As part of the celebration of the golden jubilee year of MSW programme at the Institute, a series of 7 national and international seminars and conferences have been planned during this current academic year. And this national seminar is the first one in the series. Holistic health including mental wellbeing is a major sector of social work practice across the world. Medical and psychiatric social work has gained popularity in the country post COVID-19 pandemic. Medical social workers play an important role in the prevention of illness and promotion of health. They work with the patients and their families inside and the outside the hospital settings and facilitate appropriate diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of the patients. They help the poor patients to access to various government health schemes and insurance facilities of the government.
Psychiatric social workers are the key resource persons for the promotion and awareness of holistic health and mental wellbeing. They also work in the educational and industrial set ups to enhance to the mental wellbeing of the students and the employees respectively. Medical and psychiatric social workers in India have also scope in community settings in the prevention of medical and psychiatric disorders and promotion of mental wellbeing and hygiene.
The national seminar, intends to explore the scope of medical and psychiatric social work for the promotion of holistic health and mental wellbeing. Student social workers of the Institute have undertaken various field action projects as well as research dissertations individually and in groups addressing various medical and psychiatric issues in the hospitals as well as in the community. There are also students, faculty members and practitioners of medical and psychiatric departments across the country who have researched and undertaken field action projects addressing medical and psychiatric issues. These researches and field action projects reveal the scope of medical and psychiatric social work for the promotion of holistic health and mental wellbeing in India.
The chief objective of the national seminar is to create a platform for the student social workers, faculty members and practitioners to share their experience and expertise in addressing medical and psychiatric issues through their social work interventions with special reference to their research dissertations and field action projects.
Another objective of this national seminar is to document success stories of medical and psychiatric interventions of the faculty members, practitioners and the student social workers in health sector especially the mental wellbeing.
The chief theme of the national seminar is the holistic health, mental wellbeing and the role of medical and psychiatric social work in India. The sub-themes on which discussions and deliberations will take place are Medical social work in hospitals and healthcare systems, Holistic health approaches and integrative care, Mental health promotion and preventive strategies, Psychiatric social work in India: challenges and innovations, Social work education in the sector of holistic health and mental wellbeing in the country, and Culturally sensitive and contextualised mental health practices.
The first plenary session of the National seminar was held at 9:45 AM on medical social work in hospitals and healthcare systems. The session was chaired by Mrs. Aasawari Zapake and the speakers were Mr. Shivaji Jadhav, Dist. Program Officer DAPCU, Dist. Hospital, Ahilyanagar, Mr. Suresh Kadam, Senior Medical Social Worker, Dist. Hospital, Ahilyanagar, and Mr. Pravin Sable, Medical Social Worker, Booth Hospital, Ahilyanagar.
Mr. Shivaji Jadhav explained the role of social workers who are working as counsellors at District Aids Prevention and Control Unit at the District Hospital, Ahilyanagar. He also explained the nature and characteristics of HIV/AIDS, the stages of treatment, types of rehabilitation and strategies of prevention. If the first stage treatment is not undertaken seriously, the virus develops resistance which requires second stage treatment. Due to effective counselling sessions provided at DAPCU, 95 percent of the patients are undergoing treatment of the first stage.
Mr. Suresh Kadam explained the role of medical social worker in various departments of the District Hospital, Ahilyanagar. Medical social worker is an important person of the treatment of team of every hospital. Social workers take care of the emotional, economic and social concerns of the patients and their family members, while the doctors deal with the medical or physiological concerns. Rehabilitation of the recovered patients who are destitute is one of the major concerns of the medical social workers.
Mr. Pravin Sable explained how the medical social workers are groomed at the Booth hospital. He spoke about the importance of training for student social workers in counselling skills. Medical social workers should be multiskilled and play the mediators’ role between the physicians and the patients.
There were several questions from the participants which were appropriately responded by the resource persons. The session was concluded at 11.45 AM.
The second plenary session of the seminar was held at 12.00 noon on ‘Psychiatric social work in India: challenges and innovations’ under the chairmanship of Dr. Suresh Mugutmal. The speakers of the session were Mr. Ramakant Doddi, Project Coordinator, Snehalaya Manojyoti Project, Mr. Siraj Sheikh, Administrative Officer, Manavseva Prakalp, Mr. Jayesh Kamble, Program Officer, CRHP, and Dr. Suresh Gholap, Medical Officer, Dist. Hospital, Ahilyanagar.
Mr. Ramakant Doddi shared his experience of working with people with psychiatric disorders, counselling and rehabilitation services. Based on his experience of working with Manojyoti mental health project of Snehalaya, he described the condition of people who are dejected by their own family members due to their mental illness. He explained the process of repatriation and rehabilitation based on the success stories of more than 200 patients of Manojyoti.
Mr. Siraj Sheikh explained the experience of dealing with the mentally ill persons at Manavseva prakalp. Several patients have the issue of amnesia and could not be rehabilitated to their own families. Several families are not ready to accommodate the recovered patients. The origin and development of Manavseva project was illustrated with the help of a short documentary.
Mr. Jayesh Kamble explained about the minor mental health issues people face in everyday life. He explained how these minor issues lead to serious issues if not managed appropriately at right time. He shared his experience of managing several mental health projects at CRHP, Jamkhed.
Dr. Suresh Gholap discussed about prevention of noncommunicable diseases (NCD), the cause of 64 percent deaths in India. National mental health programme has been launched across the country in 1982 under which every district hospital conducts various programmes to prevent psychiatric disorders. Psychiatric disorders constitute significant part of NCD. After an interesting question – answer session, the plenary session was concluded at 2 PM.
The session resumed after lunch at 3 PM. An 18 minutes short film on ‘Teen Depression’, a mental health awareness programme from Content Ka Keeda, was screened during the session. The session was chaired by Dr. Vijay Sansare and Dr. Jaimon Varghese was the resource person. The short film was about the origin and development of stress among the teenagers, adverse impacts of stress, and the strategies and supports available for its management. There was a meaningful discussion followed by the screening.
The keynote address session was held at 4:30 PM under the chairmanship of Prof. Suresh Pathare. The session started with the presentation of the Institute song, ‘Graminvikas’ by the CSRD choir. Welcome address was given by Prof. Suresh Pathare. Holistic health covers physical and mental health. He mentioned that yoga, meditation, nutrition and emotional management are all important aspects of mental health.
The keynote address was given by Dr. K. Sekar, Consultant, DPSSDM, NIMHANS, Bengaluru. There is no health without mental health. Everyone has mental health issues for short periods in their life. Cognitive abilities deteriorate with age. Mental health contributes to all aspects of life for the individual, society, and economy. Most stressful jobs are soldiers on the boarders, fire fighters, pilot, etc. Teaching is at 43rd place. Every job is stressful and stress management is the key of mental health. Individual illness leads to family mental health issue. Psychosomatic issues are common today. We can manage our mental health issues if we take care of our attitude towards self, purpose in life, relationship with others, engagement, basic needs, and having control over one’s life. Mental health issues are social, not individual. Climate change affects mental health. Community mental health is important today. Promotion and prevention include a multilevel spectrum approach. Capacity building is the full circle approach (360 degree) strategy for mental health. Availability, affordability and accessibility is the last word on mental health.
16 November 2024, Saturday
The second day of the seminar began with yoga at 08:00 AM. Holistic health approaches and integrative care session on Yoga, meditation and mental health was conducted by Dr. KK Kanojia. He explained the uses of yoga for promoting, protecting and maintaining physical and mental fitness. He demonstrated various yoga postures and explained the effectiveness of each posture. All the participants followed the resource persons by practicing each posture. He discussed Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga step by step, demonstrated every step, explained its usefulness and gave tips for its daily practice. Ashtanga yoga consists of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dyana, and samadhi. These steps help one to lead a contented and fulfilling life. The main focus of the session was training in three types of pranayama. He concluded the session by stating that yoga is the best strategy to transform yourself into a dedicated student, effective professional, responsible parent, and above all a good human being.
The second session of day was the ‘Workshop: Healthy Campus – Mental health beyond diagnosis’. Resource persons were Mr. Suneel Vatsyayan, NADA India, New Delhi and Ms. Manali, medical social worker, KJ Somaiyah Hospital, Mumbai.
Good health and good life means being alive and present. When you are responding to someone who is alive and present, you too become alive and present. Smile is energy. Emotional life means swing in emotions. Stability means emotionally dead. Chinese word ‘Ting’ means ‘to listen’ for which we need eyes, ears, heart and respect. CPR is life giving where c for connect, p for presence and r for revitalise. Peer educator, peer supporter and peer leader constitute the structure of NADA to convert the campus into healthy campus. Healthy campus is safe campus. What comes from the heart goes to heart. Meaningful engagement of young people and the impactful implementation of good health policies is the key for healthy campus. Nada India NAPSWI go green healthy campaign is an initiative for converting all the campuses into healthy campuses. Diagnosis is merely a label for a patient. Let us take our initiatives into finitiative. Mental health is connecting hearts exploring new paths. Date programme is drug, alcohol and tobacco free environment. NADA’s vision is inspiring the next generation of changemakers to lead impactful social work initiatives and empowering health advocates for a stronger, healthier community. According to Manali, a psychiatric social worker and mental health advocate in Mumbai, Nada vision is creating a campus that supports mental health, meaningful connections, and balanced growth – together we foster an environment where everyone can thrive.
After the workshop on healthy campus two concurrent sessions were held simultaneously at Golden Jubilee Hall and FCW lecture room. Mrs. Aasawari D Zapake was the chairperson for the first concurrent session. There were six paper presentations during this session:
- Ms. Ashwini Bhosale, ‘Impact of workplace stress on employees’
- Ms. Varsha Bhingardive, ‘Promoting holistic mental health and well-being among youth: the role of the Students Christian Movement of India’
- Mr. Rushi Mankar, ‘A study on the men’s toxic traditional masculinity’
- Mr. Santhosh Ankush Suryawanshi, ‘Role of the social worker as a counsellor in the implementation of PESA Act’
- Riya Tiwari, ‘Psychological First Aid as a Post Trauma Resilience Intervention’ (poster)
- Satyendra Singh Chauhan, ‘Addressing malnutrition and holistic health among children in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh’ (online paper)
The second concurrent session was chaired by Dr. Vijay Sansare. The paper presentations were the following:
- Dr. Jaimon Varghese, ‘Level of life satisfaction, resilience and general happiness of women at work – a national study’
- Mr. Yogeshwar Mule, ‘A study on the health impact of excessive mobile use on college students’
- Mr. Aditya Lohar, ‘A study on the roles of medical and psychiatric social work in the District Hospital Ahilyanagar’
- Ms. Rosna Joseph, ‘A study on the stress mental health issues among college students with special reference to Gurudev Arts & Science College’
The final plenary cum valedictory session was held at 3:00 PM on holistic health approaches and integrative care: Role of Ayurveda in dealing with mental health issues, Work-life balance & mental health. It was chaired by Dr. K Sekar, professor of medical and psychiatric social work, NIMHANS, Bengaluru. The resource persons were Dr. Satish More, Medical Superintend, Vikhe Patil Hospital, Dr. Pritam Bedarkar, Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Ahmednagar College; and Dr. Prasad Ubale, Rotary Club, Ahilyanagar.
Dr. Satish More, MD in community medicine, shared his experience of working with the TB patients and HIV/AIDS patients who are hesitant to sustain their treatment. He shared his experience of coordinating NCD programmes at the state level. Psychiatric disorders are part of NCD and spirituality plays an important role in dealing with psychiatric disorders including de addiction programmes. He shared his experience of training social work students of the Institute and offered opportunities for the MPSW students. He suggested that MPSWs are suitable for the AYUSH department. Social mobilisation is the social work intervention for mental health promotion. In response to the query from the participant, he told that there is social worker in the casualty round the clock to deal with the worries of the patients and their families. Social worker plays an important role in renewing the blood storage in the blood bank. There is only one authorised organ transplantation centre in Ahilyanagar, that is Vikhe Patil Hospital. Social workers work as transplant coordinator. Social worker plays the role of mediator between doctor and patient. Social worker deals with the difficult cases like ‘how much will be the cost of the treatment and will the patient survive even after a costly treatment’. The social worker can organise any type of medical camp. Just three social workers organised the most successful camp of distribution of aids and appliances to the divyang at Ahilyanagar. If there is a will, there is a way.
The chairperson responded to Dr. Satish More by appreciating the view that men should cry. Crying cleanse brain off the fogs and takes out the pressure which otherwise would burst.
Dr. Prasad Ubale explained the role of Ayurveda in promotion of mental health. He started his talk by stating that Ayurveda is the science of life. Veda means science. Disturbance in vata, kaph and pith cause diseases. There is impact of food intake on physical and mental health. Just controlling food can help treat any illness including the minor psychiatric disorders. What you eat, when you eat and how much you eat matter most with regard to physical and mental health. There is direct connection between food intake and brain. When do you take food – due to hunger or due to time schedule? Physical health is essential for mental health.
The chairperson responded to Dr. Prasad that Ayurveda deals with the root cause of the problem, while other systems deal with the symptoms.
Dr. Pritam Bedarkar shared tips of mental health. Physical health is the first dimension of mental health. Smiling is the second dimension of mental health. Work life balance is the third dimension of mental health. Are you able to give time to your family? Give quality time to your family, to your students, to your friends and to your colleagues. We use the word stress, but actually, it is pressure. Stress is anticipatory worry. Check whether the stress is reality based, fight it. If it is only in thought, deal with it by thought only. Control your anger and anxiety. Anger is expressed through aggression and assault. If we skip the aggression (verbal abuse) the rate of assault (physical abuse) would increase. Tips for work life balance are maintaining bio psycho social and cultural balance and completion of task lists. Work life begins with honeymoon stage, progresses through conflicts and finally adjustment stage.
The chairperson responded to Dr. Pritam, reemphasising the importance of maintaining quality time with everyone. Always think positive, speak positive, and be positive.
Concluding remarks was given by Prof. Suresh Pathare. The theme of the national seminar, holistic health and mental wellbeing brings various professionals under one roof. We need to be committed to our profession, our clients, and our organisations where we work. Know, learn and apply what you have learnt in this seminar.
Participants’ feedback was given by Dr. Kevin Paul, Ms. Vaishavi Karale and Ms. Shristi Phulare.
Valedictory talk was given by Dr. K Sekar. Medical and psychiatric social worker makes a huge difference in all the organisations where they are placed. There is a need to work for the formation of social work council.
Vote of thanks was given by Dr. Suresh Mugutmal. The national seminar was concluded with national anthem.