Well-being refers to a state that is characterized by good health, happiness and prosperity. Human beings are social beings and are always in interaction with one person or the other within the society or the community in which they live. This is why, at all times, any individual's state of well-being gets affected by the well-being of people around him. To ensure one's own well-being it becomes quite important to contribute to the well-being of the community also. Well-being is a state of being that is characterized by happiness and good health where health refers to soundness and vigor of body and mind.
Body, the physical self is almost always preferred more in terms of being taken care of. This partially is because it seems easier to relate with a concept (the body) that is tangible enough to look at, to touch or to feel. The fact that the body is a physical entity makes it easier for all of us to think about its strength, fitness, appearance and so on. Mind, on the other hand, the abstract part of the self or in other words, the non-tangible part of us remains ignored till date. One of the biggest hurdles in relating with mind and its existence is the abstractness attached to it. It hardly is evident to a lay man that the mind, just like physical body undergoes wear and tear each day and needs nourishment and rest in its own unique way. Second hurdle in understanding wellbeing in terms of mind that is made up of various psychological processes is lack of knowledge.
We know that high levels of cholesterol are harmful for healthy functioning of the heart so even before any signs and symptoms of CHD or related ailments majority of individuals start taking precautions to make sure that their heart remains healthy. In other words, with the knowledge about heart and any other physical organ for that matter, we are able to work on prevention. If at certain point in life, an individual falls prey to any physical disease, information and knowledge about the specific condition helps the patient and the family members to deal with the given condition in a more effective manner. Whereas in case of psychological symptoms or ailments, this is not the case, due to lack of knowledge and stereotypical ways of thinking, one continues to either avoid or mishandle the condition leading to further deterioration in the state of wellbeing.
This initiative that we call Empowered is an endeavor to -
(i) Spread knowledge about various psychological process for instance Mental Health and its importance.
(ii) Providing skills to make recognition of early signs and symptoms of possible ailment.
(iii) Imparting skills for enhancing quality of life at familial level.
(iv) Spreading awareness and providing hands on techniques to practice 'Prevention is better than Cure'.
Empowered Projects
Empowered - EQoL is set to launch a project called COP starting
with Delhi NCR and then expand further to various other parts of
the country and then across countries.
WHAT IS COP?
C - COMMUNITY - as a term refers to a a
social, religious, occupational or other group sharing common
characteristics or interests and/ or percieved itself as
distinct in some respect from the larger society within
which
it exists.
O - OUTREACH - as a term refers to the act of extending services, benifits etc..., to a wider section of the population.
P - PROGRAM - as a term refers to a plan of
action to accomplish a specific end.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Putting the above three terms together, Community Outreach
Program (COP) refers to an initiative that purports to take into
account the different communities within India and other
countries and reach out to them in order to Empower them to
Enhance Quality of their Life. The underlying idea is to help
the masses to see and understand the importance of Mental Health
and hence become more receptive and open to seek psychological
help. This further would help in reducing the taboo associated
to the concept of Mental Health and Psychological difficulties
and take the project on a different level.
AIM OF COP
COP's primary aim is to disseminate the knowledge about Mental
Health and empowring masses with skills and techniques to
enhance quality of their life. Along with the primary aim, COP
additionally aims to spread the message of conservation of
non-renewable resources as well as preventing our planet. One of
the ways of doing the same is by utilizing technical
advancements as an alternative to using paper to the minimum
possible extent and resorting the the recycled materials
wherever possible. The idea is to demonstrate rather than teach,
that conservation of resources and saving our planet does not
essentially require making an extra effort or stepping out of
one's comfort zone. For instance, having e-meets, e-seminars
(webinar) to reduce the fuel consumption for communiting to the
place of event etc...
Project COP is primarily based on
the concept of 'Prevention'; Prevention as a term refers to the
act of preventing.
COP aims at empowering both the
individuals and the families (& hence the community) by helping
them understand the following:
-
What is Mental Health?
-
Why is it important?
-
What is the role of Mental Health in ones life?
-
What may go wrong in ones life in case of inadequate Mental Health?
-
What are the benifits of understanding Mental Health both in applied and conceptual terms?
-
What further can be done post acquiring the knowledge to EQoL?
COP would have number of phases focusing and targeting different
sectors of the system which will be introduced at different
times. By and large the times of introducing these difference
phases will be pre-planned but it may vary slightly based upon
the inputs and outcomes of the preceeding phase that has already
been launched.
Initial goals that COP looks at achieving:
-
Have a better understanding of Mental Health and its importance in life
-
Have an awareness that there is a lot more that can be done in terms of EQoL
-
Have the knowledge and hands on skills to practice to keep basic psychological issues at bay
-
Have the ability to understand basic elements for building up a conducive environment for bringing up children for their adequate development
-
Have the ability to identify the early signs and symptoms and identify the time when professional help should be sought
-
Understand the importance and role of Self in achieving ever increasing levels of happiness, satisfaction and contentment