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Seminar on Mental Health

The audience
The introduction

SI Poona, conducted a seminar on ‘Enhancing the Mental well being of Women and Girl children’ as part of its Girl Child protection Initiative, by addressing issues of obesity and child sexual abuse. Sexual abuse of children has been on a rise and so is physical violence. Children who are sexually abused experience several mental health issues and this affects their studies or work, if employed. Obesity too, is a silent killer that can cause unwarranted diseases, stress and depression. The speakers were experts in the respective fields. Dr. Jayashree Todkar, renowned bariatric surgeon spoke about the importance of a healthy lifestyle to prevent obesity, while Dr.Jyothi Shetty, professor and head of Department of Psychiatry, gave an overview of the definition of child sexual abuse, and its long term implications.The audience, numbering above 100, and consisting of teachers, students and members of non profit organizations participated in this interactive seminar, which ended with a question and answer session. The audience was informed of the Child Helpline number 1098 and made aware of the POCSO act (Prevention of Child Sexual Offences Act, India 2013) to bring justice to children. PAC, SI Poona requested the participating members to share with them their good practices and conduct awareness training about gender justice as part of their girl child protection initiatives.