Mental health and emotional stability are crucial, especially for the younger generation, to navigate life’s challenges. Recently, our fellows and team participated in a training centered on mental health awareness through the interactive platform of ManMela. This unique approach uses games and activities to highlight various aspects of mental health, creating a fun yet informative environment.
Some of the standout modules discussed during the training included Mental Health Faces, Dice Games, Ring Stall, Movie Screenings, प्रश्न मंजुषा (Quiz Competitions), Laughter Club, and निशाणे बाजी (Target Practice). Each of these stalls has a specific purpose, offering insights into mental health in an engaging way.
Our Founder Deepa Pawar – herself from a Nomadic & Denotified Tribe – and the developer of this module based on her lived experiences, provided a detailed explanation of each stall, emphasizing the importance of emotional awareness and stability.
In addition, the मनमेला (Manmela) modules focus on rights-based conversations surrounding mental health, touching on emotions, resources, communication, and dignity. These modules, especially through games, delve deep into the complexities of mental justice, breaking away from elite or superficial understandings of mental health.
“Mental health concepts cannot take root if they remain disconnected from the ground realities,” said Deepa Pawar. “For mental justice to thrive, it must be a continuous process of dialogue, education, and understanding.”
The program’s impact is aimed to be wide, especially as it aims to reach ashram schools, rural areas, and marginalized communities like NT-DNT (Nomadic and Denotified Tribes), Adivasi groups, and rural women. Their lived experiences form the backbone of this initiative, making them both the carriers and leaders of this movement.
This training camp, held with Guts Fellows and the dedicated young women-led team of Anubhuti, successfully broadened the understanding of mental health and laid the groundwork for future efforts in ensuring mental justice at the community level.
