Alumni lecture series-3: Impact of Blood Donation

 

The third lecture under Alumni lecture series, organized by Social Work Students Association (SWSA) was conducted on 25^th January, 2021 at 4 p.m. . Ms. Caroline of 2^nd BSW was the emcee for the programme. Sr. Reshmi of 1^st BSW led the session in prayer and Ms. Abhirami of 3^rd BSW introduced the speaker. The topic for lecture was ‘Impact of Blood Donation’. Mr. Mohit Chopra who is currently an Entrepreneur was the resource person.  

     The moderator of the session, Ms. Radhai of 2^nd BSW gave a small introduction about the topic of blood donation. Mr. Mohit Chopra was then asked to take over the session. He talked about how blood donation is essential. What activities they indulge in and the health conditions required for donating blood. He also shared a few experiences in his field of work and made the students realize how important blood donation is.

       After Mr. Chopra’s lecture, Prof. Kiran Jeevan addressed the gathering and interacted with the speaker recalling some of the old days. After Prof. Kiran Jeevan, HOD,  Lt. Akshay . D. Mandlik also thanked Mr. Chopra for his lecture and took a minute down memory lane. The session was ended with the vote of thanks by Harris of 2^nd BSW.

Faculty Members from the Department secure a Major Research Project from the Government worth 18 lakhs.

We are extremely happy to announce that the Major Research Project Proposal sent to the National Commission for Women (NCW), Government of India, by three faculty members from the Department of Social Work (myself, Dr. S. Rama Gokula Krishnan, Lt. Akshay D. Mandlik, and Ms. Viola Noronha) and a few other faculty members from two other departments- Dr. Tulika Bhattacharya from the Department of Economics (the Principal Investigator), Ms. Treesa Joy (Department of Economics), and Ms. Neeta Gerosa Pereira (Department of Psychology), has been sanctioned.

The happiest part of this news is the fact we have been granted the exact amount that we had sought which is a whopping *Rs. 18,15,000*

A big thank you to Fr. Rector, Fr. Principal, the Management, other faculty members in the Department, and our dear students for their unending support and encouragement.

We sincerely hope that this Major Research Project will bring a positive change in society and also bring additional glory to the Department.

HoD Honoured with Prestigious Defence Secretary Award

The Department of Social Work is proud to announce that Lt. Akshay D Mandlik, the Head of the Department, has been awarded the Prestigious Defence Secretary’s commendation card. It is important to note that only 10 in the country are honoured with this award. This was announced yesterday by Defence secretary Dr Ajay Kumar, IAS during the inauguration of the NCC digital forum. The Defence Secretary's commendations Card is awarded for outstanding acts or deeds in the fields of adventure sports, training or for outstanding contribution in social or cultural activities.

Covid and its Effects on Ethics and Values in Higher Education

A two hour programme was held online for the students of both BSW and MSW on the 18^th of December, 2020. Fr. Jose Nandhikkara, the National Director of the Globethics.net India, researcher and philosopher, was the first speaker on the topic for the day- ‘Covid and its Effects on Ethics and Values in Higher Education’. He highlighted the fact that the knowledge society ought to be guided by ethics and not by any market forces and that our society needed to be ethically inclined towards a sustainable society. The next speaker was Ms. Christine Housel, Donor Relation and Strategic Partnership, Globethics.net, Geneva. She gave an international insight into the topic. She pointed out the need for a sense of responsibility among both teachers and students, especially during the pandemic in upskilling to the new online technology. The programme concluded after a short Q&A session during which students asked several questions on the matter and the resource persons answered them diligently.

 

Workshop on Data Analysis-2020

A six-day workshop on data analysis was conducted for the students of 2^nd year MSW from the 8^th-14^th December, 2020 (excluding Sunday). The workshop was initially planned for 5 days but was extended for another day so as to give more time for the students to pick up the skill of data analysis using SPSS. The workshop covered percentage analysis, chi square, ANOVA, Correlation, and Multiple Regression Analysis using SPSS. The workshop was conducted by Dr. S. Rama Gokula Krishnan of the department. 

INTERNATIONAL WEBINAR ON 'MENTAL HEALTH FOR ALL: STRATEGIES AND ROADMAP'

Looking at the current status of mental health in today’s world, it is very important to ensure that mental health is prioritised now more than ever before. On account of this, the MnP students from the Department of Social Work conducted an International webinar titled "Mental Health for all: Strategies and Roadmap" on the 10th of October 2020 which is observed as World Mental Health Day. The webinar was conducted through Zoom, was live streamed on YouTube and had national and international participants. There were three sessions and each session had different speakers who emphasized on different topics related to the theme. The first session commenced with a brief introduction by Ms. Renu Philips of IIMSW highlighting the educational accomplishments and expertise of the first speaker Prof.Hye Kyung Kang (Chairperson of Department of Social Work, Director of Master of Social Work Program and Associate Professor in Seattle University). The speaker emphasized on the title" The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health Crisis from a Social Justice- Focused Perspective". Prof. Kang spoke about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and the increase in demand of mental health services and a decrease in its access. She discussed about some of the promising intervention strategies and spoke about policy and advocacy needs. The second session began at 10:30 a.m. Ms. Aishwarya Toppo from IMSW introduced the second speaker- Mrs. Eliza Pereira (Former Head of the Department of Medical Social Work at St. John’s Medical College Hospital, Bangalore).

Her topic was "Access to Mental Health in the Indian Scenario". She talked about what Mental Health is and gave emphasis on the fact that it’s totally O.K. to seek help. She also highlighted on some of the myths related to mental health and also shared one of her professional experiences related to one of the myths. 

The third session began at 11:45am with a brief introduction by Sr.Christine Ezhil from IIMSW highlighting the educational accomplishments and expertise of the third speaker Dr.nJames (Assistant professor in Psychiatric Social Work, Central Institute Of Psychiatry, Ranchi). The speaker spoke about the history of community social work and on the institutiobnalization of  persons with mental illness. He also spoke on deinstitutionalization the development of psychotropic drugs and about the change in the public opinion about not isolating the people with mental illness.

After the third session, Fr. Dr. Augustine Lourdu (P.G Co-ordinator, Dept. of Social Work) gave the concluding remarks. This was preceded by the Vote of Thanks by Dr. Shari Tess Mathew (Coordinator of the Webinar, Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work).

The sessions were very informative and was successful as the resource persons had great knowledge with regard to the theme. The webinar was mainly conducted in order to raise awareness regarding investment in mental health and improving mental health access in relation to the objective of World Mental Health Day 2020. The webinar aimed to bring in people from multidisciplinary backgrounds in order to create awareness on the importance of mental health.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan- students work for rural development despite the pandemic.

A total of 22 students and three faculty members (Lt. Akshay D. Mandlik (HoD), Dr. Fr. Augustine Lourdu (PG Coordinator) and Dr. Alan Godfrey) from the Department of Social Work conducted 3 pilot visits and have selected 2 villages in Anekal Taluk for currently carrying out the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, a programme by the Government of India. As part of the on-going programme, a total of 94 households have been surveyed in the two villages. Meetings with the stakeholders in the community were also held and a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was conducted to gain a better understanding of the villages. The students noted that in one of the selected villages, the number of school dropouts was high. This motivated the students to organise a street play on the importance of education. The gathering was also informed about the existence of certain scholarship schemes that could be used to support their children’s education. It is important to remember that all of these efforts are being undertaken at a time when the pandemic has struck fear in the hearts of millions of people in the country. Despite the danger posed by this deadly virus, the students have chosen to undertake this important programme. The Department of Social Work salutes your bravery and dedication to the rural community!