People around the world are looking for ways to keep themselves mentally strong, with many trying to help others in how to stay strong during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Sanah Thakur is a young speaker, educator and writer. With a degree in psychology and PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) in psychology and sociology, she is a firm propagator of mental well-being. Sanah is also a trained facilitator and assessor for the psychological and mental well-being and resilience training programme – The Fear Project.
The psychologist also runs her own organisation – Sanation, which began in India following the work of Jiddu Krishnamurti, an Indian philosopher and writer, in order to change priorities in education. Recently, she has been holding her innovative talks on why ‘The Education System Must Die’ and inspiring young students. She is also a prolific writer on topics such as memory, well-being, personality and cognitive psychology.
Sanah currently works as a facilitator and event co-ordinator at Passare Consultancy UK. She has co-authored and designed four online courses, which she is working to bring to the marginalised communities in India.
Sharing about the programme – The Fear Project, she said: “It is a psychological training programme designed to help individuals positively and productively re-engineer their mind to reduce the mental discomfort and confusion they experience every day. This can be for individuals in the workplace, education or in their personal lives. The training focuses on tackling the impact of psychological fear in our everyday lives. It was created by Martyn Stewart, Chartered Psychologist from England.”
When asked to share her opinion on the uncertain times caused by the pandemic, Sanah said: “The current pandemic and resulting lockdown has revealed to people how important it is to look after your mental state. Just few weeks ago, we were all distracted by our jobs, our education, our daily routines and recreation activities. Today, we have nothing but the thoughts in our head to pay attention to. There are no distractions or escapes and if your mind space is not a safe place, this can be a problem.
“The noise of the outside world often drowns the conversations in our head, that voice in our head. But things have changed and it is important to be aware of the things that the voice in your head says to you. Is it telling you things will be okay or is it creating panic, tension, stress and confusion due to uncertainty? I think this is a great opportunity for everyone to start improving their mental resilience, for creating strategies to deal with uncomfortable situations filled with unpredictability. Remember, your brain only likes certainty, so you have to train it to always find that.”
When asked if she thinks the Fear Project can help people deal with the stress caused by uncertain times, the expert said: “As people are home and more in tune with their mental well-being, we have created short online courses based on the Fear Project to help people find answers to some of the questions that run around in their head all day. The Fear Project gives it to you straight, with no sugar coating or subtle messages. Only you can control what will happen in the future by managing your thoughts and emotions today. Our short courses can be finished in one day and have tools and strategies that people can implement immediately. Our most popular one is the free mood assessment that tells you what your everyday mood is and why whenever it changes, you are confused and frustrated. Things may not get better but your mindset can. That is the only way you will survive this period.”
The courses can be accessed at: https://thefearproject.net/online-courses/
u201cAs people are home and more in tune with their mental well-being, we have created short online courses based on the Fear Project to help people find answers to some of the questions that run around in their head all day. The Fear Project gives it to you straight, with no sugar coating or subtle messages. Only you can control what will happen in the future by managing your thoughts and emotions todayu201d u2014 Sanah Thakur
