Alumni Impact: Kripa Sigdel Supports Mental Health During COVID-19 in Nepal

Alumni Impact is a social media campaign that recognizes the excellent work being done by FIUTS alumni all around the world. This week, meet Kripa!

Kripa Sigdel, Psychologist in Nepal and FIUTS alumna

As the world is down with the pandemic of COVID 19, our country Nepal is no different. Today, 19th of April, is the 27th day of complete lockdown and the government has pushed to 8 more days of lockdown. We are speculating more of such days, or even months, before we all function normally like we used to do two months back. And, here staying at home - social distancing - is the only option to prevent further transmission. 

At this point when the world is suffering, being a youth advocate, I had to do something. Since my partner and I had already started doing podcasts on the regular basis to support the mental well-being of our listeners, we came up with a plan to do podcasts on various aspects of ‘Psychology behind Pandemics’ and are planning to do them until the lockdown ends. In each episode, we talk about various aspects of the pandemic like Why Mental Health Matters, Tips and Techniques for Stress Management, Psychological First Aid and many more.

Kripa and her partner Psychologist Sujan Shrestha, recording a radio podcasts on ‘Psychology behind Pandemics’.

Also, through our organization, which I co-founded, Psychbigyaan Network Nepal-PNN, we are doing online counseling to those in need. Anyone can reach to us via email or message us if they have any queries regarding psychological vulnerability, and we can help them support their mental well-being ourselves, being counselors, or link with other support if they need a referral.

Likewise, another way of being supportive in this time of crisis is by providing virtual sessions on Mental Well-Being to the people who are at home and might need the sessions. So in collaboration and partnership with other like-minded friends, I also did virtual sessions on various aspects of Mental Well-being like Stress Management, Building Relationships at this time of Crisis, Mental Health First Aid At Crisis and am planning to do more.

A flyer for Kripa’s podcasts

When the world is locked down and everyone is staying home, people may need the expertise we have; so doing things for others at this time gives me immense pleasure. So, I am still searching for ways to support my locality or beyond for any kind of support I can be in any way. Here my topic of interest and expertise is ‘Mental Health’ and ‘Psychology’ and I am doing my part to support the mental well-being aspect of this crisis.

Kripa Sigdel was a 2014 participant in the FIUTS Study of the U.S. Institute on Journalism and New Media. She is now a psychological counselor and university faculty in psychology in Kathmandu, Nepal. Kripa invites anyone who wishes to collaborate with her, or anyone who needs support, to contact her during this period of crisis at counselling@psychbigyaan.com.

You can support FIUTS programs that prepare students like Kripa to make an impact in communities around the world by making a gift to the Impact table at this year’s Virtual Blue Marble Bash.

—

The Study of the U.S. Institutes promote a better understanding of the people, institutions, and culture of the United States among international students, teachers, and scholars. Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSIs) are short-term academic programs for groups of undergraduate leaders, educators, and scholars from around the world. Hosted by academic institutions throughout the United States, these 5- to 6-week Institutes include an intensive academic residency and an integrated educational study tour. Extracurricular cultural and community activities help to broaden the participants’ understanding of U.S. society. See more here.

Guest posts on the FIUTS blog represent the experiences and views of individual writers. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FIUTS or any organizations or institutions affiliated with our programs.

Alumni Impact is published on the FIUTS blog, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Read past posts by searching for Alumni Impact on our website main page!

Interested in being featured in Alumni Impact? Contact Annie Lewis at annie@fiuts.org.