KHPT’s Adolescent Health team was invited to participate in a three day international Asia-Pacific Conference on Adolescent Mental Health by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) from November 28 to 30. During the conference, the team showcased its community-centric approaches to adolescent mental health by setting up a stall, participating in a panel discussion, and organizing a workshop.

The stall on Adolescent Barefoot Counselling was set up to demonstrate a unique approach to addressing adolescent mental health. Three adolescent barefoot counsellors from Koppal shared their experiences by explaining how they work, the challenges they face in rural areas, and how the model has benefited adolescent girls and young women. The stall saw a footfall of over 100 delegates over the three days.

On the second day, Dr. Sathyashree Goswami, a consultant of KHPT, participated in a panel discussion titled ‘Building resilience: Strengthening coping strategies in adolescents.’ Dr. Sathyashree spoke about building resilience in adolescent girls from a practical field perspective. She emphasized the activities under KHPT’s Sphoorthi project, focusing on how the project is creating a strong support system to help adolescent girls not only survive but thrive.

On the last day of the conference, KHPT organized a workshop titled ‘Barefoot Counselling’ to raise awareness about the community’s mental health needs and challenges as well as the ongoing work by KHPT in the adolescent mental health domain. Setting the importance and need for a rural adolescent barefoot counselling intervention through a presentation and an Intimate Interactive Theatre performance, on the status of rural adolescent girls, counselling and mental health awareness interventions undertaken by the Barefoot counsellors was demonstrated and discussed. The workshop catered to about 20 students and two faculty members of MAHE.