Media Release

Mangaluru, Mar 8: On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the women’s cell of St Agnes College (Autonomous), here, organised a webinar on 'Women and Mental Health'.

The resource person for the webinar was Dr Shalini Aiyappa, the assistant professor and Head of the Department of Psychology of St Aloysius College (Autonomous), Mangaluru.

The webinar was organised with the intention of creating awareness among the faculty and students on the importance of mental health and how mental health can affect physical health.

It began with Sheryl Preethika, the assistant professor of the department of Commerce and the women’s cell co-ordinator, highlighting the relevance of International Women’s Day and revealing the objective of organising the webinar.

Sr Dr M Venissa AC, principal of St Agnes College (Autonomous), gave the presidential address and emphasised the theme for Women’s Day. She encouraged women to be in the forefront like Mother Veronica the founder of the Apostolic Carmel Congregation and Mother Mary Aloysia AC, the founder of the college. She said, "Their hardships and contribution to society must inspire young women to work hard to reach greater heights while being service-oriented.”

Dr Shalini Aiyappa then led the session by defining what is mental health and the different risks to mental health. She emphasised how important it is to take care of ourselves mentally because it does have an impact on our physical health. She discussed certain measures to overcome risks to mental health. Answering the queries of the participants she said, “Women have the habit of holding on to things. It is good if we let go of things and learn to live in the present and live for the moment. And this will come only by practice.”

Sheryl Preethika welcomed and introduced Dr Shalini Aiyappa. Jean Goveas, the women’s cell secretary expressed words of gratitude. A total of 176 faculty and students had registered for the webinar. The webinar was appreciated by the participants.