The Mental Health and Well-Being Committee of LSR, in collaboration with IQAC, organised a faculty workshop titled Building Healthy Campuses: Faculty as Enablers of Student Well-Being, on 12 November 2026, with Prof. Rajat Mitra. Prof. Mitra is a renowned clinical psychologist, educator and author with several decades of experience in grief therapy and crisis management. The workshop began with an introduction by Dr Siksha Deepak followed by Principal Prof Kanika Ahuja felicitating the speaker.

Prof. Mitra began the workshop by discussing how India has recognised mental health as a fundamental right since 2017. He shared that the Supreme Court has explicitly recognised mental health as an integral and inseparable component of the Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. This elevates mental well-being from a mere statutory or welfare provision to a constitutional mandate.

Further, the Court has shifted the analytical lens from viewing student suicides as isolated personal/family tragedies to recognising them as driven by toxic academic pressures, commercialised coaching ecosystems, and administrative neglect. Given the court’s understanding, Prof Mitra said that colleges need to make a concerted effort to respond sensitively to students with mental health support needs.

In the current scenario, the expectations from teachers are to act as first responders, crisis handlers, counsellors, and address the unmet developmental needs of the students. Prof Mitra also presented some facts on suicide through an interactive exercise with the faculty and the structural barriers faced by students in seeking help for suicide. He provided certain recommendations for colleges, such as offering counselling to students caught in UFM practices during exams and to those doing poorly in academics.