Mpower Launched COPE To Empower Students To Champion Mental Health

On the occasion of Engineers' Day, today, students of IPEC (Indraprastha Engineering College) in Delhi have officially launched COPE (Counselling and Outreach for Peer Empowerment), a student-led community initiative dedicated to fostering open dialogues about mental health pressures experienced by today's youth.

COPE, short for Counselling and Outreach for Peer Empowerment, is a meticulously crafted programme by Mpower, an initiative of Aditya Birla Education Trust that will work towards providing much-needed support and resources for addressing mental health challenges within the student’s community in colleges. 

This entirely student-led initiative represents a significant step forward in promoting a proactive and empathetic approach to mental well-being, by nurturing peer-to-peer engagement, offering guidance and creating a safe haven for candid conversations about mental health.

25 students from the COPE community will be trained by psychologists from Mpower on the Youth Mental Health First Aider programme. This equips them to identify and support peers facing mental health challenges. This two-day certification programme equips participants to provide crucial first aid in crisis situations involving suicide, self-harm, traumatic events and aggressive behaviours, enabling them to recognise signs of poor mental health and respond appropriately while also guiding them toward professional help when needed.

Speaking on the launch of COPE Dr Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson of Mpower said “Mental health has long been relegated to the shadows and its high time we bring it into the spotlight. In the symphony of academia, it's crucial to remember that our students are not just scholars but individuals with emotional lives that need nurturing.”

Commencing on World Suicide Prevention Day, students from colleges spanning six states joined forces to stage impactful street plays, shedding light on the significant mental health and well-being issues they grapple with daily. Educational institutes such as Garware Institute, Sophia College, Atlas College, and BK Birla College from Mumbai, Dolphin Institute from Dehradun, PR Pote Patil Engineering College in Amravati, IPEC (Indraprastha Engineering College) in Delhi NCR, NITTE in Mangaluru, Sambhram Institute of Technology in Bangalore and Rungta Institute in Bhilai passionately participated in this initiative.