Counter-Narratives - The MHI Conference

Mariwala Health Initiative in collaboration with The Department of Sociology and
The Department of Psychology, K.C. College, Mumbai & School of Performing Arts and Liberal Studies, HSNC University
February 7th and 8th 2025

COUNTER-NARRATIVES, Mariwala Health Initiative's Conference Series, launches in 2025!

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

The first conference of the series, Mental Health of Marginalised Communities: Perspectives from India, is to be held at K.C. College, Churchgate, Mumbai on 7th and 8th February, 2025.

Call for Abstracts in English

Call for Abstracts in Hindi

Abstract submissions [for oral presentations] closed.

Call for Posters in English

Call for Posters in Hindi

Deadline for abstract for posters is extended till 29th December 2024. Please upload your abstract for posters here.

Register for the conference!

Those who are submitting abstracts for consideration do not need to register for the conference currently.

COLLABORATING PARTNERS

Mariwala Health Initiative

Founded by Harsh Mariwala, Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI) is a capacity-building, advocacy, and grant-making organisation with a particular focus on making mental health accessible to marginalised persons and communities. We align with a rights-based, psychosocial approach that considers mental health concerns in the context of disability rights. We expand on the narrow medical understandings of mental health and illness and look at these through a systemic lens. We understand oppression based on caste, gender, religion, ability and sexuality as major contributors to mental health distress. We encourage community based interventions and actively promote the deinstitutionalisation of mental health services.

Know more here.
The Sociology and Psychology Departments at K.C. College

Established in 1954, Kishinchand Chellaram College has made a momentous journey to carve a special niche for itself over the past seventy plus years. KC College, as it is popularly known, was the second institution set up in Mumbai under the aegis of the Hyderabad (Sindh) National Collegiate Board after it relocated itself in the city following the partition of India. The college has worked zealously to be recognized today as a premier South Mumbai education centre that boasts of many undergraduate and postgraduate departments and PhD research centres. It has been accredited A grade for three consecutive cycles by NAAC. It is the recipient of the DST - FIST grant by the Govt. of India, Ministry of Science & Technology, the DBT Star Status and the DBT Star Scheme grants by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. It is now a constituent college of the HSNC University (A state Public University) launched in the year 2020. KC College is located near Churchgate Station terminus of Western Railway, it is easily accessible from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus of Central Railway too and is a stone's throw away from the iconic Marine Drive.

The Department of Sociology aims to equip its students with a critical and analytical ability by providing them theoretical and empirical exposure to various social realities. The curriculum offered by the Department takes into account recent advances in theory, methodology and contemporary social phenomena. The curriculum is supported by an innovative pedagogy that emphasises on interactive forms of teaching learning processes and an understanding that emanates from the lived experiences of students. The Department has been deeply invested in trauma informed classroom pedagogies and in institutionalising an intersectional approach to the discourse on mental health.

The Department of Psychology currently offers undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programs at K. C. College. The UG coursework is designed to build a robust foundation in the discipline of psychology to enable the students to be able to inculcate that knowledge into their understanding of human behaviour. With both practical and theoretical courses, it aims to help students foster an evidence-based approach in whatever vocation they wish to pursue. The Department endorses an interdisciplinary approach to understanding behavioural and mental phenomena, and has alumni working across multiple disciplines. The PG program (M.A. Psychology) is primarily focused on developing foundations of application in clinical and other mental health settings through the lens of a scientist-practitioner model.

Know more here.

More information to follow soon!