With an aim to raise awareness around the mental health issued, the World Health Organization (WHO) commemorated October 10 as World Mental Health Day. While last year the focus was on suicide prevention, this year the goal set by WHO is ‘increased investment in mental health’.

In its official statement, the WHO states that due to the pandemic, “It is expected that the need for mental health and psychosocial support will substantially increase in the coming months and years. Investment in mental health programs at the national and international levels, which have already suffered from years of chronic underfunding, is now more important than it has ever been.”

Here are a couple of courses which can help you have a mental check on self and one’s loved ones, and help you adopt practices in life which are healthy for your mind.

Mind Control Managing your mental health during COVID-19: The course offered by The University of Toronto via Coursera is a short course of about three hours. The course aims at helping users develop an understanding of anxiety reaction. It deals with various aspects of responding to the pandemic including how to talk to kids about it to how to consume news. It’s a completely online course with a flexible deadline. It also offers a certificate and enrolment for the course is free.

Self-therapy techniques and theories for self-development: The course is offered by Udemy. It offers the study of philosophy and therapeutic ideas. The course will help one learn techniques for changing habits, applicable philosophy, and humanistic therapy core concepts. The course includes 2.5-hour on-demand video, 22 downloadable recourses, access on mobile, TV, and a certificate. Learners will be given assignments. It is available at a cost of INR 490.

Teacher development embedding mental health in the curriculum: The course is created by the Open University, endorsed by the Mental Health Foundation, and is available on Future Learn. It is a postgraduate level 12-weeks course which will start from October 19. The aim of the course is to help educators develop skills to design teaching, learning, and assessment activities that can enhance students’ mental well-being. It costs $639 and also helps teachers understand students’ mental health better and navigate through education accordingly.

The science of well-being: The course is offered by Yale and is available at Coursera. Enrollment in the course is free. It’s a 19-hours completely online course which also comes with a certification. The course will have a series of challenges designed to increase learner’s personal happiness and build more productive habits. It will deal with concepts of happiness, expectations, biases etc.

The science of well-being: The course is offered by Yale and is available at Coursera. Enrollment in the course is free. It’s a 19-hours completely online course which also comes with a certification. The course will have a series of challenges designed to increase learner’s personal happiness and build more productive habits. It will deal with concepts of happiness, expectations, biases etc.