The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras students will be offered mental health counselling services through the 24-hour helpline 14416 and TeleManas 14416. This was announced by Shilpa Pabhakar Sathish, mission director of the National Health Mission, during the launch of a wellness session series for students on Wednesday at the institute.

The programme is being conducted with the support of the NHM and the State Health Department. Professionals enabling mental wellness will speak to students with the objective of mitigating their stress. Ms. Prabhakar spoke on the various mental health programmes conducted in the State for the well-being of school and college students.

The Mana Nala Nallaatharavu Mandram (MaNaM) focused on the well-being of college students by empowering them to recognise psychological symptoms early and seek help appropriately, she said.

Counsellors and psychologists in the institute will also offer fellowship courses to strengthen their counselling and psychotherapy skills. Institute director V. Kamakoti launched a website https://behappy.iitm.ac.in/ for a time-bound redress mechanism besides encouraging frequent faculty advisors and student interaction.