2021-2022

Students of the III year Psychology conducted workshops for 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th standards of St. Mary’s Boys Mat. Hr. Sec. School on the topic “Judicial Use of Mobile Phones, Depression and Frustration.”

Day One 

The seminar on mental health was opened by Mrs. Lavanya who shared her ideas on “Emotional Regulation and Gratitude.” Her talk inspired and empowered the students with great knowledge about gratitude.

Day Two

Mrs. Varsha Vinod, a Clinical Psychologist, highlighted a lot of sexual disorders and  provided clear guidance in dealing with them. She also spoke on number of considered myths and stereotypes related to sexual disorders and their causes.

Day Three  

Mrs. Alima Zehra the Head, Department of Psychology, shared some inspiring messages about self-esteem.

Day Four 

Mrs. Marita Wilson addressed the students on conformity. Ms. Jeemol P Bejoy, who is a psychologist and an Assistant Professor, spoke about self-care and love. Dr. Ragitha Radhakrishnan, the Head of the Department at MGR Janaki College of Arts, gave some excellent views regarding pro-social behaviour. Ms. Smrithi Lakshmi Narashiman is an Assistant Professor who spoke on the topic “Anger and Stress Management.” She spoke about the causes of anger and how it affects us physically and mentally. She also shared some surprising key solutions to tackle and control anger.

Mrs. Alima Zehra, Head, Department of Psychology, organized an outreach program for III year Psychology students on behalf of her course topic in counselling and guidance – “Counselling Special Groups-Inclusive Education.” Students organized games for the special children and got the opportunity to interact with the special educators and the parents of the special children in “Anugraha School for Mentally Retarded” on 22nd March 2022.

Three days “International Conference on Mental Health and Gender Sensitization”, was organized by the Department of Psychology, in Collaboration with the Internal Quality Assurance Cell and Centre for Student Development consisting of (Entrepreneurship Development Cell and Institution's Innovation Council).

DAY 1

The Online Conference was open to the public and approximately one thousand five hundred people had attended. The first keynote speaker was Dr. Srimathy Kesan, Founder & CEO of a leading Space Technology And Research Firm “Space Kidz India” specializing in space research, rocket design and building and launching satellites. She gave a power packed speech about the infinite potential of women and strongly motivated the participants.

The second key speaker was Mrs. Rehana Ameer, Councillor - City of London and a Business Woman. She is the first Indian born woman to be elected as a Counsellor in the City of London. She spoke about her life experience towards success and encouraged the participants to stay liberated.

The theme of the three-day international conference was “Mental Health and Gender Sensitization.” Along this journey, there was a session that broadly covered the use of humanistic psychodrama in supervision by Dr. Hans Werner, Professor, and Institutional Director at International Centre for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. He enlightened the gathering by speaking about the amazing practices and techniques implemented in psychodrama.

DAY 2

The Dads of Meenakshi, Vignesh Chandrashekaran, spoke on LGBT and Equal Parenting followed by the panel discussion on the role of gender in mental health, academics, sports, art, media, business, law, medicine and nutrition.

PANELISTS

• Mrs. Beena Thomas, Associate Professor and Head in Department of English, CTTE College for Women.

• Mr. Anand Kumar, World Peace Ambassador, Founder, India Turns Pink.

• Mr. Ramanathan, Voiceover, dubbing, acting and script writing.

• RJ Mridhula, Radio Jockey and Producer at Big FM.

• Dr. Suresh Kumar, Head, Post Graduate Department of Psychology, the American College, Madurai.

• Dr. V. Srilatha, Professor, Department of Tamil, Prince Sri Venkateshwara College of Arts and Science.

• Mrs. Bhagyam, Mrs. Chennai Superwoman 2019 and Josh Talks Speaker.

• Mrs. Adilakshmi, Advocate High Court, Madras and Social Activist.

• Dr. Jeyam Kannan, Emeritus Professor, Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai.

• Dr. B. V. Saraswathy, Assistant Professor, Department of English, CTTE College for Women was the Panel Moderator.

The Panel discussion focused on the opportunities, challenges and difficulties faced by women in different sectors. The attendees had the opportunity to listen to the opinions, thoughts and suggestions given by the panelists on mental health and gender sensitization.

The last session of day two was conducted by Ms. Gomathi Seetharaman, Founder - Arogya Yatra, Health Advocate and Motivator who delivered a talk on yoga, health and hygiene.

 DAY 3

The session started by Dr. S. Kathiravan, Professor and Head, Department of Psychology, Periyar University, Salem. He focused on the impact of mental health at work among men and women followed by a session on gender stereotypes by Dr. Syeda Ruksheda, Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, Trellis Family Centre, Mumbai.

The conference ended with the valedictory programme. Mrs. Gowri Ashokan, Former Chairperson, Tamil Nadu Government Women Commission was the chief guest for the programme.

At this conference, sixty papers were received for presentation. Each paper proposal was evaluated by four chairpersons and about fifty one of these were accepted and presented during the paper presentation sessions. On day one and day two and the sessions were chaired by:

• Dr. Sasikala, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Madras.

• Dr. Malarvizhi, Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, CTTE College for Women.

• Dr. Srinidhi, Head, Department of Psychology, Sadakathullah Appa College, Tirunelveli.

• Mrs. Gayathri Swetha Kumari, Head, Department of Psychology, MOP Vaishnav College for Women 

• Dr. Sudha Srikanth, Soft Skill Trainer & Placement Officer, CTTE College for Women.

Papers were presented on themes like positive psychology, gender roles, health care, literature and philosophy, crime against women and support, LGBTQ, gender bias in media, business, identity crime, men’s mental health, breaking stereotypes and special education. The papers were judged based on the three criteria: 

1. Innovative Research. 

2. Perfect Research. 

3. Theme Justification.

The three day conference was organized in fifteen sessions, with six hundred and sixty eight people from around forty institutions that included faculty members and registered students. Sixty papers for paper presentation from fifteen different organizations such as Dr. MGR University, Amity University, American College, GD Goenka University, Maharishi Dayanand University, JBAS College for Women, MOP Viashnav College, Punjab University, Chandigarh University, Chowdary Charan Singh University, University of Calcutta, St. Thomas College of Arts and Science, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Saveetha College of Allied and Health sciences, National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, CTTE College for Women, Kendriya Vidhyalaya, Balbharathi Public School , Delhi, Mahalakshmi College of Arts and Science presented their papers and twenty two invited speakers from twenty institutions presented their thoughts, opinions and suggestions in the area of mental health and gender sensitization.

This third day international conference on ‘Mental Health and Gender Sensitization’ created awareness on gender bias, emphasized the comprehensive role of mental health in breaking gender stereotypes, helped students expand their mental horizon and abbreviate the barriers arising due to gender discrimination and understand the need to enhance the living standards of individuals by reducing the gender bias.

Department of Psychology organized a certificate course on ‘Basic Skills in Counselling’ (online mode) to III year students which was a thirty hour programme by Dr. Srividya, Psychologist & Director of Transcend - Centre for Personal Excellence, from 24th January, 2022 to 1st February 2022 between 09:00 am to 2:30 pm. The students were given pointers on the important skills involved in counselling, counselling process, goals and theories. The students were assessed with the materials they were provided, based on which certificates were given to the students. Overall, it was an informative and mindful session.

Mrs. Alima Zehra, Head, Dept of Psychology, in collaboration with an NGO “The Bhai Friend Biryani” had organized an outreach program for the students of Psychology as a part of inclusive education initiative where quality time was spent with the students who were affected by AIDS. A cultural event was conducted by the students of Psychology and dinner was provided to all the faculty and students of SIP HOME, Periyarnagar on 19th December 2021.

Ms. Jeemol, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, organized a course related outreach Program for III year Psychology students in Social Psychology – “Altruism”. The students were taken to “SAMARPANA, Centre for Human Service” on 17th December, 2021. The students got the opportunity to interact with inmates and got to know about their case history. The students as well as the inmates shared the stage together and conducted several cultural programs as part of the Christmas celebration.  

Department of Psychology from CTTE College for Women, in collaboration with IQAC organized two day workshop on ‘Building up Happiness and Resilience Skills.’ The guest speaker was Dr. A. Nirmala, Former Principal & Secretary of Ethiraj College for Women on 8th December 2021 and 16th December 2021. Students were delighted to learn about what actual happiness is and were enlightened about Hedonic, Eudemonic and Perma happiness. She also taught a few techniques on how to be happy every day and bring out positivity in life. The techniques could be used every day, anywhere, anytime, to overcome any problem. The session was very interactive and the students were thankful to her for sharing her skills.

Faculty of the Department of Psychology addressed all the students of the College and conducted group counselling session in the areas on importance of life and education, emotional intelligence, academic development, life skills etc.

Mrs. Alima Zehra, Head, Dept of Psychology provided lunch to thirty five inmates of a juvenile home in Kossapet on 14th November 2021.

On 9th November, 2021 Department of Psychology, in collaboration with Karunai Ullangal Trust, the 90's Kids, Tamil Nādu Youth Force, Integrity People, Samaksha distributed essential supplies to people of Kolathur, Pulianthope and Saidapet area who were affected due to heavy rains. The following were distributed:

• 80 bedsheets

• 300 biscuit packets

• Lunch- 250 packets

• Dinner- 200 packets

• Tarpaulin to 5 families

• Milk packets- 50

• Single bedsheets- 34

The Department organized a seminar on ‘Recent Trends in Psychology’ by Mrs. B. Hemamalani, Prison Psychologist, Puzhal Central prison, Dr. M. Barathan, Deputy Director (Retd.), Forensic Science Department and Ms. Arthy Jayavel, Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education. It was great exposure for the students and they actively participated throughout the program. 

The Department of Psychology, in collaboration with IQAC organized an online workshop on ‘Mental Toughness for Teenagers.’ The resource person was Dr. Vasanth R., MBBS., M.D (Psychiatrist) and the session was conducted on 18th September 2021. Dr. Vasanth provided techniques for students to work on their mental toughness in their day to day lives. The session was novel and quickly grasped the attention of the students. 

The Department of Psychology, in collaboration with IQAC organized an online guest lecture on the topic “Hypothesis and Inferential Statistics” on 13th September, 2021. The speaker Mr. R. Surya Kumar gave a clear picture of framing the hypothesis, the various statistical analysis used in research and how the statistics and hypothesis should be chosen according to the research.  

Mrs. Alima Zehra, Head in Department of Psychology, visited an orphanage “Home of Love” and donated two hundred and fifty mats as well as distributed refreshments to the children on 3rd August 2021.