Posts published in February, 2015
From heart to heart and hut to hut
By Apurva Khedagi, ’15 (Human Biology)
During my Haas Center fellowship I worked alongside the NGO Sneha in the Kandivali slums, leading group meetings on preventable diseases. Together with the Kandivali women, we developed simple solutions.
As I helped women make hairpins and played with their babies, I grew close to them. Due to these relationships, my fellowship’s goals were easier to accomplish. We discussed ways to take utmost advantage of their current health care resources and devised measures they could implement to address preventable diseases. We displayed those innovative, simple solutions on posters across the slum alleys. I saw that if given the chance, all individuals possess power to take responsibility for their own health.
My relationships with the women and my drive to remedy malnutrition led me to return to Mumbai this year to tackle this issue through a research intervention project, the UAR Senior Synthesis. Now, as I pursue a career in medicine, I cannot wait to continue on this learning journey.
Fighting silence, ending stigma
By Nikita Desai, ’15 (Science, Technology, & Society)
During my freshman year, as a member of Stanford Peace of Mind (SPoM), I saw students boldly share their struggles with mental illness at panels in dorms and residences across campus. I was struck by the cathartic effect of opening up in a way they otherwise never would have felt comfortable doing. Even more astounding was the manner in which the speakers’ exposure of their vulnerabilities inspired so many others to speak out and share similar stories of their own.
Recognizing the importance of supporting mental health on campus for the well-being of all students, I agreed to lead SPoM in my sophomore year. We worked to revitalize our dorm panel series, learned about the findings of the Provost’s Student Mental Health and Well-Being Task Force from Senior Associate Dean for Religious Life Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann, and hosted Stanford alumnus and acclaimed film director, producer and writer Jay Roach, ’80, to share his personal experience with depression.
Almost one in four Americans suffer from mental illness. My SPoM experience has shown me that Stanford students are no exception, and my work this year to support student mental health on campus through the ASSU Executive has revealed that open dialogue is the key to securing mental well-being – now for Stanford students, soon for all Americans, and, eventually, for the world.
