DHARAMSHALA: The Tibetan Torture Survivors and Rehabilitation Division of the Department of Health is currently organising an eight-day mental health workshop at Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (VIMHANS), New Delhi.

A total of 19 nurses and community health workers from various health centers under Department of Health and Delek Hospital are participating in this workshop.

This workshop primarily aims to improve their understanding of the common mental health conditions in addition to building their capacity in prevention and management of these conditions.

The resource persons include about 12 highly experienced mental health specialists from VIMHANS who are providing training in many interesting topics like child and adolescent mental health, Post traumatic stress disorders, basic counseling skills, trauma counseling, psychotherapy, addiction and substance abuse.  Additionally, Dr. Pema Dorje, who previously worked as a senior medical officer at Men-Tsee-Khang, will speak about the Tibetan medicine’s perspective of dealing with mental illnesses and its holistic approach to prevent them.

This workshop is being facilitated by Department of Health’s staff, Sonam Dolma and Tsetan Dolma.