Researching the Innovative Techniques of Identifying Mental Illness

Volunteering

Overview

Research innovative techniques to identify mental illness for farmers' welfare

You have:

• Professional education and/or experience in the mental health domain is expected.
• Current experience in psychology/psychiatry will be a great asset to this project.

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

UVS is working in the Vidarbha region of India, where every eight hours one farmer commits suicide since 2006. Our organization's project 'Psychiatric Rehabilitation of Farmers' is dedicated to addressing this issue through which we are giving doorstep services to the beneficiaries which consist of early identification, assessment, and treatment of mental illness. Our identification method consists of doorstep surveying through a PHQ-12 questionnaire. Acutely depressed patients are treated in Civil Hospital for free.

Reaching out to the masses, bringing ease and convenience in the identification of vulnerable beneficiaries, and achieving sustainability of the project are some of the challenges we are confronting which may be better addressed through this assignment and collaboration with Online Volunteers.

Selected volunteers may get an opportunity to utilize their expertise and skill set to see the on-ground impact of their contribution which contributes to the SDG no.3 on Good Health and Well-being.

To save the lives of farmers in Vidarbha, we are in a need of practically workable methodology that will help us to identify the mental illness of the beneficiaries. Identified beneficiaries can later be treated through a Psychologist/Psychiatrist but tracing them at their workspace is a real challenge.

To find a workable solution, research needs to be done which may consist of searching for the best solution over the Internet, communicating with universities, collaborating with relevant experts, and approaching various entities working in mental health. Expected outcomes should necessarily be a mental health identification technique which can be an ICT tool, app, AI tool, opening helpline numbers, psychological patient health questionnaire or any other innovative approach not mentioned here.

To make this happen, selected online volunteers are expected to support with the following: 1) Research various mental health identification techniques that are popular worldwide or trending nowadays. Results should be ensured thoroughly. 2) Search and list various stakeholders associated with mental health profession which may potentially be helpful for future collaboration with our organization. 3) Research to provide suggestions for the organization in learning, adopting, and implementing the selected solution that best fits organisation's requirements.

Selected online volunteers may work on any of the mentioned tasks as per their interest. Weekly reporting to organisation's focal point and proper documentation of researched work need to be done by each individual.

IMPORTANT Online volunteers engaged under this assignment will not be asked or required to provide any form of mental health-related treatment, including but not limited to counseling, therapy, or any other mental health services. These activities must be conducted by licensed and qualified mental health professionals only. For successful applicants: should the Host Entity of this assignment ask/require you to perform mental-health-related treatment, kindly report to [email protected]

Applicant willing to contribute to this assignment is expected to have professional education and/or experience in the mental health domain. Current experience in psychology/ psychiatry will be a great asset to this project.

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Potential interview questions

Added 2 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unv.org