Project Mind Brigade organized by the Rotaract Club of Kandy, Rotaract Club of University Of Colombo, Faculty of Management and Finance (RACUOCFMF) and the Interact Clubs of Ananda College, Nalanda College, St. Anthony’s College, St, Bridget’s Convent, and St. Sylvester’s College was successfully held on the 1st of May 2021 via the platforms of ZOOM and FACEBOOK Live. The project was conducted under the community service avenue and was initiated with the main aim of providing awareness and solutions for the youth to fight mental battles owing to the daily struggles and hardships faced during the pandemic.
The guest speakers of the evening were Ms. Rasini Bandara who is a psychologist, Mental health care professional at Mind Heals Pvt Ltd, visiting lecturer, public speaking and personality development coach, and Ms. Nilusha Goonatilleke who is a Clinical psychologist and author of many e-magazines and articles.
“Depression, stress, anxiety are the branches of the tree called poor mental health”
The session started off with the saying by the host of the evening, Rtr Afkar Saleem; who for his exceptional skills in moderating the discussion, received quite the feedback. Ms. Nilusha started the discussion with a very clear explanation on the concept of psychology, and following that, Ms. Rasini joined the discussion by adding on a few key facts about psychotherapy along with few practical implications.
Afterwards, Ms. Nilusha took the lead in explaining the most crucial area of the discussion; ‘Exam phobia’. It was a focal point of the session as the target audience of the project included Interact and Non-interact members within the age group of 15- 19 and University Undergraduates. She stated that exam phobia is an irrational fear which leads students to avoid the usual studying routine. Adding to that, Ms. Rasini expressed; “ The fear will be with you until you face it. You can’t eliminate that fear 100%, but you can prepare for it and reduce it up to a certain extent”.
Thereafter, Rtr. Afkar moved the session to an interesting and timely topic ; ‘Relationships’. This segment was by no means intended to promote relationships among school children, but to promote awareness for the benefit of those struggling with such issues. Ms. Rasini highlighted that a relationship is not about finding your better half but rather you become a complete individual on your own before getting into a relationship.
“A relationship is never about “ I LOVE YOU” and “YOU LOVE ME”. It’s always about understanding an individual and not expecting your partner to be another version of you.”
Towards the end of the fruitful session, the audience was given the opportunity to raise any questions and clarifications regarding the matters addressed. Furthermore, Ms. Rasini shared a glimpse of her life story which undoubtedly was a touching and motivating one. She also enlightened the audience about a beautiful practice in Japan, where cracks of broken items are replaced with Gold. “Something which is once broken has the absolute potential of becoming absolutely beautiful. So try to paint YOUR cracks in life in GOLD.” she said.
In concluding the discussion, Ms. Rasini shared details of Mind Heals (Pvt) Ltd.; which is the first-ever online counseling platform in Sri Lanka. You can reach them via: www.mindheals.org. Thereafter, the session came to a closure with the vote of thanks delivered by Rtr. Supun Rathnayake.
We take this opportunity to thank our renowned Guest speakers; Ms. Rasini and Ms. Nilusha and the enthusiastic participants of the session. We sincerely hope that it was a fruitful and impactful one!
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