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The COVID-induced lockdown has negatively impacted people of all ages across the world. With people confined to the limits of their homes, a significant surge has been witnessed in the stress and anxiety levels, especially in the face of being infected, social isolation, economic downturn, unemployment and poverty. At such testing times, Ms Sonia Mangla, a counsellor at Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, chalked out several programs, prepared videos and delivered online guidance to the parents and students to keep them fit physically and mentally.
Counselled Students, Parents & Colleagues
The pandemic has brought extensive changes in the educational systems worldwide. The centuries-old, chalk and talk teaching shifted online overnight. While online teaching-learning helped contain the spread of the virus, it cropped up anxiety among students which is being attributed to poor internet connectivity, adjustment to online learning, access to smartphones and more.
Being a counsellor of a school, Ms Sonia Manglacommunicated with the parents about the anti-social behaviour of their children, loss of interest in studies, increased screen time, physical aggression, depression and more. Thereafter she decided to counsel the students and promote mental wellness.
She individually counselled the troubled children and helped them in improving their abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour. She further connected with the parents and explored positive ways of dealing with the errant behaviour of their wards.
To boost the confidence of her students, colleagues, as well as parents, Ms Sonia conducted numerous virtual sessions on well-being and coping strategies. She emphasised spending time with family, staying active, being involved in community activities to deal with the pandemic, and so forth.
Helping the underprivileged
During the lockdown, Ms Sonia also held sessions for the underprivileged children and their parents and provided them with due help as and when required. She educated them on a good diet, ways to enhance immunity and provided tips to face the existing circumstances. Furthermore, she also provided them with food, essentials, and medicines whenever and wherever required.
Special Sessions for CWSN
Special sessions were conducted by Ms Sonia for the Children with Special Needs (CWSN) as they were the worst sufferers during the lockdown. She tried to eliminate the loneliness from their lives and made sure that they do not become the victims of cyberbullying or inadvertent content. She further advised parents to engage their wards in appropriate physical activities or creative pursuits to assist them to sail smoothly through the difficult times.
Ms Sonia Mangla is a finalist of Best Initiative (Mental Health Awareness) because... in these testing times when mental and emotional wellbeing of people was being challenged, she stepped out and up to help people, especially students and Children with Special Needs to stay healthy both inside and out.
To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Sonia Mangla Click Here.