S. Valarmathi, Director, Department of Social Defence, launching JAMS Book, at a workshop on Youth Mental Health in Chennai on Friday.
| Photo Credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ

The Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) on Friday launched a guide on youngsters’s psychological well being, Juveniles Accessing Mental Health (JAMS), for childcare establishments.

The JAMS guide, containing details about youth’s psychological well being and well-being, was launched by S. Valarmathi, Director, Department of Social Defence.

JAMS is a pilot mission by way of which SCARF labored with childcare establishments in Chennai and Ganjam district of Odisha, stated Dr. Thara Srinivasan, co-founder, SCARF. The mission, supported by the Grand Challenges Canada, goals to enhance adolescents’ psychological well being within the establishments by educating them requisite abilities to boost their well-being and supply entry to psychological well being companies.

Dr. Shiva Prakash, marketing consultant little one and adolescent psychiatrist at SCARF, stated other than enhancing psychological well being literacy in youngsters, the mission will deal with creating youth-friendly, non-judgemental areas inside these establishments. Through the pilot mission, SCARF discovered the interventions had translated into important enchancment in youngsters’s well-being. The JAMS guide will act as a preliminary cheat sheet on psychological well being, stated Dr. Prakash.

Dr. Srinivasan stated non-governmental organisations similar to SCARF might solely create fashions and solely the federal government could make efforts to offer take care of individuals.

Appreciating SCARF’s efforts and the JAMS mission, Ms. Valarmathi stated options to addressing youngsters’s psychological well being issues was not simple and the federal government was making an attempt to kind them out though the first duty lay with the dad and mom and society. She stated youngsters weren’t being taught life abilities. They grew up as confused and depressed people.