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Young Generation Anekäntaväd Speaks - hEARt Listens By Sheily Shah
Sheily Shah is a graduate of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor in Computer Science with a minor in Creative Writing. She has been an active member of JSGD for most of her life, and helped lead the JOY board from 2011 - 2015. She served as a president of JOY from 2013 – 2015, starting initiatives like Teacher’s Appreciation Day and Jain College Panel. At her university, she helps run the Jain Students Association, and has been active in YJA as a member of multiple project teams, a Local Representative and participant in initiatives such as Jains In Action. She credits JSGD in helping her build a foundation of values that have shaped her day-to-day life and in connecting to her roots. (This article was originally published on YJA Blog in February 2020)
If I had to come up with a buzzword to describe Jainism, I would undoubtedly choose Anekäntaväd. I remember being introduced to Anekäntaväd when I was about nine or ten years old, and my Pathshala (religious school) teacher assigned us homework to write five good things and five bad things that happened to us at the end of each day for one week. During Pathshala the following week, we shared what happened, and my teacher brought up Anekäntaväd — the multiplicity of viewpoints. She said that everyone seems to do similar things, such as go to school, extracurricular classes, and play on the playground, but the best or worst part of everyone’s day is motivated by different interests. While I talked about recess being my favorite, someone else described it as the worst part of their day because they would rather play inside. Ten years later, I found college to be a playground of its own. Everyone around me seemed to go through similar challenges — academics, building friendships and adjusting to the campus. However, as I built more connections on campus, I realized that every person’s story was very different. I remember watching my friends take on the many stressed college students face. From trying to find a job or handling a relationship to deeper struggles of depression and substance abuse, everyone had a different story and a different way of coping with it. While my roommates and I had a strong support system coming into college, we realized that many other students come onto campus feeling alone while they adapt to their new lives. There were countless mental health resources on campus, ranging from CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) to support groups to new apps. Whether they were unaware of or confused by these amenities, or simply did not have the time to utilize them, students had a difficult time gaining access to these resources. After a year of assessing the needs of students campus-wide, we found that students prefer to talk to their peers the most — students who have gone through similar struggles. However, through our research, we also discovered that students sometimes felt this was a burden, or that they were being judged during these conversations. We also realized that students, including ourselves, didn’t know how to properly support others in the face of mental health challenges. We have a tendency to overlook the “empathy” part and skip straight to the “giving advice” part. But most of the time, what might work for one person doesn’t work for another. From these two needs, we developed a peer-to-peer chat application “hEARt Listens” that allows students who want to talk with other students who are trained to listen. Our product consists of an anonymous messaging application where students can simply text in and be connected to a trained peer supporter. We developed a 10-week training program with the help of the University of Michigan School of Social Work and School of Education, as well as mental health organizations on and off-campus. Through the program, we are able to train students who are genuinely interested in learning how to support their peers. The training program includes topics, such as active listening over text, motivational interviewing, how to navigate a difficult conversation, and how to smartly refer someone who may be in crisis to an external resource.
