9A year-long youth mental health initiative launched in 62 colleges by Mpower, an initia-tive of the Aditya Birla Education Trust, has been able to reach over 1,12,000 students be-tween the ages of 18 to 21 years.The initiative provided structured awareness and peer support models using the COPE (Counselling and Outreach for Peer Empowerment) model.The initiative is based on the learning's from the Mpowering Minds Youth Mental Health Summit 2025 and aims to address early identification of concerns, peer interventions, and enhancing mental health systems in institutions of higher education.Speaking on the initiative, Neerja Birla, Founder & Chairperson of the Aditya Birla Education Trust & Mpow-er, said, "Institutionalization of mental health allows for early intervention and effective action. The initiative has seen increased student engagement and awareness, including the leadership of young women."The progress made by the in-stitutions that are participating in the one-year review was assessed by a focus group survey of students at all 62 colleges in the project. Of those surveyed, the break-down of females and males was 70 percent female and 30 percent male.77 percent of the Student Mental Health First Aiders that received training were also female. This is indica-tive of the increasing number of females involved as peer supporters within the participating colleges.Students raised various concerns about academic pressure, anxiety about their future careers and over-thinking.They noted many areas they are concerned about; specifically, their academic performance, self-esteem, body-image and safety (among others) and with the tension they felt between their personal objectives and the expectations that they perceive society places on fe-males.Globally, the World Health Organization has identified that females experience depression almost two times as often as males and more often than males have anxiety-related disorders; thus validating the need for implementing gender-sensitive strategies involving the delivery of mental health services.The COPE Programme will con-tinue to work with higher education institutions to develop sustainable mental health service systems through peer-support models, enhancing the mental health capacity of those institu-tions, and forming partner-ships with those institutions to provide access to ser-vices and inclusive campus environments. IN FOCUSMPOWER YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM REACHES 1.12 LAKH STUDENTS· A youth mental health awareness programme was carried out for a period of one year in 62 colleges across India· The programme was implemented by Mpower, which is an initiative of the Aditya Birla Education Trust
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