My counsellor…. My persistence partner!!!

I am very grateful and happy for all the help I was provided with. It was on the suggestion of my ISMP mentor, and one of many impulsive decisions to seek counselling. My problem was a very common one at IITB- to manage various things. Initially, I did not believe my mentor when she said this might improve my productivity.

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“Nothing is too small or simple to talk”

Hi, I am a PhD student who was agonising from a very personal issue. I believe that I had a problem continuously pinging me. When you are devoted to some work (academics) & all of a sudden you start having some forceful distraction or peer pressure to think on (non - academic) many times one tends to de-rail from the path even though temporarily. Similar thing was happening to me. People told me that “do you really need treatment for such a simple matter!” But, I knew yourself better. Just like a sore throat may be taken for granted.

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Sharing my pain and helplessness with a counselor helped me get better….

"There was a time during my PhD days when it felt too overwhelming to carry on despite my commitment and love for my research work. I was facing feelings that I didn't think I could share even with my closest people. I used to feel stuffed with feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. On top of academic pressure and staying in Mumbai away from family, I felt my whole world coming down when my dog, Daisy, suddenly passed away. I blamed myself for not taking care of her properly as I was too busy fulfilling my academic commitments. The pain was too much to bear.

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Thanks, SWC for always being there for me!!!

I was going through pretty frustrating days of my Ph.D. I was struggling with my work; my papers were getting rejected; not many people were interested to talk about my work at conferences. I used to end up crying almost every night. Long hours of work in the lab and time taking erroneous simulations were coiling up depression inside me. My distance relationship with my boyfriend and the would-be husband was also affected. There came a time when I started feeling demotivated to work and even stopped going to the lab. I felt that something was miserably wrong inside me.

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“Just Try Harder” might not be the whole solution……

Hi, I am a part of a recent graduating batch, from the dual degree program B Tech-M Tech. I was very enthusiastic about my branch at IITB, and I was doing well. 7 semesters in, I had been part of a tech team, the Tech council, did my intern in a univ abroad, and did an exchange semester too. I had a CPI of a little above 8. On paper my life seemed good, but entering into semester 8, I was struggling with the motivation to study and keep moving forward.

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Starting the Journey towards Recovery

In my first year at IIT B I used to spend the whole day trying to study and while studying I would regularly get intense headaches and eye pain. I tried consulting many doctors on what the possible cause could be but often they would just diagnose it as a symptom of common cold and would prescribe me the famous IITB cough syrup. Even though I used to have these recurring headaches I pushed myself through my first year as I was desperately trying to do a branch change. Fortunately the first year got over and I luckily managed to get a branch change.

 

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My initial reason for going to the SWC was because I was lacking people in my life who would emotionally support me.

"I had the opportunity and pleasure of having Lavina Lewis and Anisha Matthews as my counsellors in IITB at a time when I was having trouble coping with my emotions - I suffered from clinical depression and social anxiety, both of which arose because of a combination of pressure to excel at IITB, family issues and other issues. I was under counseling for the 3rd and 4th years of my study - after that, I passed out.

 

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Thanks SWC for this magic :-)

 I found it really difficult to survive at IIT in my initial days.  It was my first time staying away from home. Competitive environment, academic pressure and struggle to stay at a hostel thousands of km away from home made my life like hell. Wait, here I didn't mean IIT is a horrible place for a mediocre student like me. Actually, it was me who was extremely panicked. I was worried about my performance and never ready to leave my comfort zone. I remember the day before my endsem exam, I was crying for almost three hours in front of Hima Anaredy Ma'am.

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An All Rounder Counselor- Strategist, Guide and Friend

Hima Ma'am is a gem of a person and counselor. I found a friend in her as well as felt motherly affections on connecting with her. We have been in touch for about 4 years. I was struggling with my Ph.D. work in the initial years because there was no clarity on what needs to be done. Ma'am always encouraged me to write down whenever confused; it helped in prioritizing. After writing down the things, the next step is to make a timeline of how long each task would take. This brought clarity in terms of what is more time consuming and needs more attention.

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I got the ways, the methods during my counseling to control my anxiety and stress in my normal life and during my academics

I got into the depression problem in September 2017, and got diagnosed by a neurologist who practices in my town. I got recovered through it almost in the month of June 2018. I joined IIT Bombay in July 2018 and again got into the depression in the month of February 2019 again, and that time, I got the information about student wellness centre and came to the centre and met Lavina Mam. She helped me a lot during initial phase, in terms of advising me to Dr Radhika and then counselled my throughout the year almost.

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