Most of the actresses’ social media posts are directed at educating and empowering students and teachers and making schools a safer place. Manjima, who has been supporting #thetransfomindproject by Onelife, understands how, especially with a majority of educational institutions remaining closed because of the pandemic, children may find it difficult to cope with education. Thus, she believes a school mental health programme is absolutely necessary.
According to Manjima, mental health problems are common and often develop during childhood and adolescence. “They can be more easily addressed at a younger age and early detection awareness and assessments can help improve resilience and children’s ability to succeed in school and in life,” she says.
The Kalathil Santhippom actress, who recently undertook counselling for some medical issues, remembers the counsellor asking her to recall her childhood.
“That’s when I realised problems (in adult life) often stem in one’s childhood,” says Manjima, recalling how she used to be scared of closed spaces as a child.
“That fear had bottled up within, eventually transforming into something else.” So when one of her friends started a programme on mental health for kids, she connected to the idea immediately and began endorsing it.
Manjima Mohan
To Manjima, addressing problems such as anxiety and mental health among kids constitute some important concerns especially during this pandemic when kids cannot interact with their classmates and schoolmates as they used to before, owing to many schools remaining shut for many months too.
“Nothing is more important than kids’ mental well-being. Parents and teachers must have conversations with their kids to ensure they express themselves,” she states. And then remembering her own example, she adds, “As a child, I botched up a lot of things but had I expressed those things to my parents, I may have been a different person today.”
When the going gets tough…
A leg surgery in September 2019 led to a rather difficult 2019–’20 for the actress. Soon after the leg surgery, she suffered from backache, which, in turn, resulted in her putting on excess weight.
Trolls and her followers who believed she owed them an explanation began body-shaming Manjima on her social media pages. “I practiced yoga, started physiotherapy, and went on short walks. I also consulted a nutritionist and eventually found a trainer,” the Sahasam Swasaga Saagipo star reveals.
While at first the actress took the body-shaming comments on the chin, they slowly began affecting her, and at one point, she broke down. Around then, she also had a film releasing and Manjima had to come out to promote it. “It was one of the challenging phases in life; people kept asking me about my weight,” she says, admitting that it soon started draining her when she began explaining it to everyone who questioned her.
If you seek support in others, they, in turn, will talk about it to a hundred others and things will soon become messy. And the more people you answer the more you get exhausted. So I sought the help of a professional counsellor and talking to her helped me a lot.
However, despite how 2019–2020 was the toughest phase in her life, the Oru Vadakkan Selfie actress soon realised the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. “So since last year, I’ve been doing better because I understand that if even one organ stops working, life could come to a standstill.”
