Episode 99: Mental Health From A Students Perspective with Saumya Bharat, Co-Founder and Vice President of MannMukti GSU
Saumya is a first-year graduate student at Emory university pursuing a degree in Public Health. She is in the Global Health department and doing a concentration in Infectious Diseases. Saumya graduated from Georgia State University with a bachelor’s in biology with a concentration in pre-med. Her past research has been centered around alcoholism and HIV AIDS in Uganda and Alcoholism and IPV in the LGBTQ+ community. Saumya’s current research interests center around mental health, women’s rights/health, alcoholism, and IPV specifically in underserved global communities. Currently, she is interested in pursuing a career in healthcare consulting with a strong background in data analytics and coding. Saumya would like to take on projects concerning her areas of interest.
What Is MannMukti?
MannMukti is an organization Saumya started back in her undergraduate years at Georgia State University. It is essentially a part of a larger organization, which is nationwide called MannMukti. She has started the Georgia State University chapter. It is directed at South Asians but with the diversity of GSU, everyone was welcomed. The club consisted of bi-weekly meetings where different topics of mental health were discussed such as burnout, familiar issues among the club members, and even career choices and how mental health can affect that. It was treated as a nice safe space. Essentially using a group therapy session style, the club would come to discuss topics and even do activities. Guest speakers would come in and talk about mental health and how to help people dealing with mental health issues and how to manage and implement self-care and activities.
Are There Any Methods That Students and Universities Can Address Mental Health?
When talking about higher education, things are very competitive. It is difficult to build your career and to find something that fulfills you. This can lead to anxiety and depression. What some universities are doing is that they are offering free mental health services. Mental health is something you have to practice every single day. It is not just about classic self-care things like journaling or reading a book. It is more on the lines of boundary setting and learning how to say no when something is taking a lot from you. Therapy is also another method that can help people dealing with mental health issues. There is a lot of stuff people experience when they are children that affect them in their current day. It can traumatize them as well. Journaling is another method that people can use because writing things out and looking at things strategically can help too. From a biological point of view, working out and getting exercise can have a positive effect because it produces happy hormones and reduces levels of cortisol as well as increases serotonin levels and dopamine levels too. Boundary setting is also important and it is really important learning how to say no and say “I can’t give this much right now so I am going to take some time off. It does take practice and it is not something you can do in a day, you have to keep working toward it.
How To Deal With and Explain Mental Health To Parents and Get Them To Understand?
The first and most important thing to do is to start the conservation. It can be difficult to do when dealing with parents. You have to tell them logically and you have to deliver the information in a different way from when you would talk to your friends about it. Being a bit more sensitive about these topics. Parents do have their kids’ best interest at heart but it is not always transcribed into it also being the best thing for our mental health. The conservation does not have to be an argument or a fight and it is important to avoid that so you can get your message and thoughts across. You have to keep in mind that the most important thing to do is to deliver your message no matter how big or small or sensitive it can be so the parents can fully understand and see their child’s perspective. The validation you get from your parents is still important so it is important to tell the everything you are feeling so you both can come to an understanding.
Contact Saumya Bharat: www.linkedin.com/in/saumya-bharat-b34b79220
Saumya Bharat Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saumya_bh/
Learn more about MannMukti: https://mannmukti.org
Learn more about Emory: https://www.emory.edu/home/index.html
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