Hey! I'm Shivani, 22 years old, currently pursuing postgraduate degree (M.Sc. in psychology) from Banaras Hindu University which is situated in the oldest city of India, that is, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The university was established in 1916 by Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, with cooperation from Annie Besant.
I was interning as a content writer for approx 1 month just to improve my writing skills for research writing in the field of psychology. I have just completed two courses on Coursera i.e., Introduction to Psychology by Yale, Health Across Gender Spectrum by Stanford University and started Social Psychology by Wesleyan University and Moralities of Everyday Life by Yale. It is so insightful to learn these courses.
Coming to my hobbies, I love writing diaries from childhood, it is totally based on how my day is spent. I think it gives me good vibes on days when nothing seems good and I feel it made me love myself even more. Secondly, I love to cook. Well, I don't make the food you'll relish, but yes when you have hunger pangs you can count on me. I can manage singing which some may find intolerable. And lastly, I have a habit of reading some books or novels.
My aims are to create awareness about mental health, suicide prevention and emotional well being of people. I believe mental health is our psychological and emotional well being. And mental illness goes to the core of our very existence and awareness of this would do the most to help people appreciate the struggle for sanity. It would help people view the recovery from mental illness as a victory for all mankind. Mental Illness is often sometimes viewed as weakness so, I want to raise awareness and educate people that mental health is as important as physical health. And as the suicide rates are increasing and many of us are either affected by suicide or likely to encounter a person who may be having suicidal thoughts. I want to help and talk to people about suicidal thoughts and the points someone needs to know to help save a life. As more people talk about it, raise awareness, and educated people, I think we'll start to see a shift in thinking and reduce a lot of the stigma associated with mental illness.
Recently, I joined as a volunteer in two NGOs which serves for underprivileged children, focusing on their education, rights as well as complete development. One day I too wish to start an NGO which will serve for raising underprivileged children and providing them with their rights, creating awareness for mental health, running a campaign for the LGBT community and giving them their rights in the society. I also want to be a clinical psychologist as people in India and especially in my society don't consider the mentally ill person as unhealthy and take them seriously. They still assume mental retardation as some supernatural kind of thing because of the symptoms it possesses. I believe if I'll be a psychologist, people will start talking about mental health and create awareness then I'll be able to help a few people and it will make a small change in the society.
My skills are strong written and verbal communications, empathy, compassion, team coordination, active listening, excellent interpersonal skills to connect effectively with co-workers and patients and a desire to help one's fellow human beings. I'm also good at scheduling and management, handling instructions effectively and can also work on conflict resolutions. I believe all these skills can help me to be a good psychologist someday.
I'm looking forward to explore areas of psychology to build a career of my interest and aiming to make a difference in the same along with radially spreading more awareness, each day! Hope you find reading my page worth your time.