Nimhans training ITBP education counsellors in stress management

BENGALURU: After having trained Tamil Nadu police in stress management, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) has now begun training ‘education and stress counsellors’ of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on how to manage loneliness, boredom, environmental pressure at high altitudes, smartscreen related issues and suicidal tendencies among their personnel.
ITBP counsellors are expected to hold workshops in managing stress and other related issues for their personnel.

The nation’s premier mental health institute signed an MoU with Union home minister Amit Shah on ‘Stress Management and Counselling for ITBP Personnel’ on December 30, 2019. Though talks were going on since 2017, workshops began only last month.
“Mobile phone penetration has made work tougher for ITBP personnel. They get worried over phone calls from home. Also, regular exercises cannot be done at their places of deployment given the oxygen saturation levels. A special yoga module has been designed for them after hazard vulnerability risk analysis,” said Dr K Sekar, registrar, Nimhans.
Each batch is being trained for two weeks. A batch has 30 ITBP stress counsellors, who work largely at base camps. The plan is for them to trek with their personnel and engage them in stress management at high altitudes.
“There are 5-6 major issues that bother ITBP personnel. They work at high altitudes and are prone to loneliness and alcoholism. They battle family issues. With mobile phone penetration, they get to know about what’s happening back home but can’t help. Boredom sets in as they can only stare at the mountains and the sky,” said Dr C Jayakumar, assistant professor, co-principal investigator of the project.
Two batches have already undergone training and it began for the third batch on February 3. In all, 450 ITBP personnel will be trained. The average age of the participants is 40-45.
An ITBP education and stress counsellor currently undergoing training in Nimhans said the major issue bothering their personnel is separation from family. “Things have changed now as compared to the pre-mobile era. Though phones are not allowed at work, everyone accesses them once back in their accommodations,” said the counsellor.
The first two batches had two women each and the third batch has three. The 90,000-strong ITBP has about 4,000 women.
“Women in ITBP have their own challenges, including psychosomatic issues, stigma pertaining to working far away from home, marital issues and biological issues arising out of the tough terrain,” Nimhans authorities said.