All About Helping! This Platform Provides Mental Health Support To Psychologists And Counsellors

Like Physical Health, taking care of our mental health needs has become crucial. In recent times, resources are readily available for the Indian public to avail services in this ambit. Psychologists and Counsellors have perfected their craft over the years to help people overcome their stress and steer them towards leading a purposeful and wholesome life.

While platforms are available to give direct support to the people, such initiatives are not present for psychologists and other mental health service providers. Therefore, the need of the hour is to promote a culture where they can thrive and provide the help counsellors need, ranging from mental health support to peer learning, to improve themselves. An example of this is 'Visit Mental Health Practitioner' (Visit MHP), in which a Mumbai-based NGO started to coach mental health practitioners and provide them with the best kind of support.

Creating A Structural Approach

The initiative is spearheaded by 'ICHARS Support Foundation'. The abbreviation stands for Institute for Clinical Hypnosis and Related Sciences. It was launched on February 22, 2022, as an online platform that helps counsellors learn the necessary skills and get the support they need while doing so.

"We have been training and supporting psychologists for over 12 years. During these years, we understood their needs and shortcomings, and we acknowledged a systematic and structured approach to reach out to and support more and more psychologists. Also, online therapy platforms currently provide direct support to help individuals with their mental health. However, there is no direct support to psychologists looking for support and peer learning," Nitin Shah, CEO of ICHARS, told The Logical Indian.

With their work, the platform wants to fulfil four core objectives. The first is to visit a mental health practitioner as a precaution, not a measure. Second, offering support to find professional therapy. The third is to upgrade what the psychologists constantly learn and assist a company in setting up emotional wellbeing infrastructure.

What Are The Processes Involved?

A psychologist has to register on the 'Visit MHP' website to avail of the services. It asks for details such as name, mobile number and information about their educational qualifications. After that, they will get a plethora of options to choose from, according to what is required.

Shah further explains the process, "Every psychologist who signs up gets a two-day training program followed by ongoing case discussions every month. Besides this, there will be additional resources such as tips and strategies for brand building and niche identification. Budding psychologists receive supervised training and guidance. Also, we conduct regular online meetups to ensure our trained specialists provide ongoing feedback to the platform. Therefore it makes it very effective for the community."

The platform runs training programs of two kinds- one for students who are pursuing a Masters' degree in Psychology and the other for actively practising psychologists and mental health service providers. "The student's program primarily focuses on training students to conduct support groups, handle chat-based support or handle calls over the helpline. On the other hand, the practitioner's program focuses on helping psychologists with a step-by-step process to offer private consultation along with hands-on techniques to help clients manage their thoughts and emotions effectively. We ensure that they receive support in their continuous professional development," adds the CEO.

Providing Help To Beneficiaries

Apart from the training programme, the 'Visit MHP' initiative does its best to give psychologists the help they need. Not only providing the services to the individuals, but a similar system is open for counsellors.

"Chat-based counselling support gets offered to both psychologists and other individuals with the help of trained psychology students. Customized sessions are available for Psychologists to help them develop skills and the confidence required to work with clients. In this way, they can establish themselves financially and emotionally by setting up their private practice or getting work in this specialized field," Nitin Shah continues his conversation with The Logical Indian.

Lack Of Practical Training A Major Problem

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed our lives in a significant way. It had a detrimental impact on both physical and mental health. With regards to the latter, it highlighted its importance. For time immemorial, mental wellbeing was ignored and kept in the backburner.

In light of this, several platforms emerged that helped people live through the pandemic woes. However, it wasn't easy to suddenly adapt to virtual consultation for psychologists. "Many psychologists are finding it difficult to adapt to the changing needs. Psychologists are looking for training to help them transition from offline to online consultation," Shah sheds light on the issue.

Further, Nitin Shah talks about the problem in the Indian psychology curriculum. The lack of practical knowledge and application is a significant point of concern. "While trying to find the right training program, psychologists face some shortcomings, for instance, courses available without clearly defined guidelines about course curriculum and the absence of a platform where they can find objective reviews of the available training programs," he adds.

While many organizations are doing their bit to address the problem, more needs to be done to make an ecosystem where Indian mental health providers are adequately equipped to adapt to changing environments and solve whatever issues come their way.

Need Of The Hour

Founded a month back, the 'Visit MHP' initiative has already become the talk of the town for all the right reasons. The team at ICHARS takes all kinds of feedback positively and try to incorporate them into their methodology.

Shah gives an example, "During our recent member meeting held on March 9 2022, we received feedback about adding a job portal on our platform. We are excited and looking forward to adding the same and working with other organizations to list job opportunities in this specialized field. We are open to receiving insightful feedback from our registered members."

Therefore, for ICHARS Support Foundation, the initiative is ushering them towards a bright future. They want to be the 'one-stop solution for all things mental, emotional and behavioural health in the coming years. "We aim to bring about change through awareness, education and support, and we firmly believe that mental health improves only through collective measures in society. Also, we are working on creating a holistic system that connects, supports and enables all stakeholders in the mental health landscape (students, professionals, NGOs, Government bodies, the general population)," Shah concludes his conversation, giving us an insight into the foundation's bright and promising future.

Also Read: West Bengal-Based Organisation Works Towards Integrating Mental Health In India's Public Health Paradigm