IBA and Saaya Health partner to provide mental health counselling
January 30, 2019: The Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi launched its new partnership with Saaya Health. Together, they will provide Online Mental Health Counselling services to IBA's student body, as well as its staff and faculty. The IBA, Karachi launched its mental health counselling department over a year ago. Given the overwhelming response from students, and the demonstrated need for such services, the IBA took the step to supplement its existing services with Saaya Health's solution. Students will login to Saaya Health's exclusive online portal for the IBA, and schedule live video counselling sessions with Saaya Health's dedicated team of mental health counsellors.
The online feature of Saaya Health gives students the option to access counselling from their home or university, and it offers them a greater range of time slots to choose from beyond the usual 9am-5pm. Research has shown that online counselling is just as effective as in person counselling. The exception is when there are crisis cases that require immediate intervention. For such cases students will be referred to in person professionals.
"Stress is a part of our lives. We must equip our students with the right tools to manage stress. Their well-being and their success is dependent on it," said Director Human Resources Mr. Mashooque Bhatti, about the value of such initiatives at the launch event held at IBA's main campus. The event consisted of an interactive workshop led by Saaya Health's Co-founder, Alizeh Valjee, which focused on various techniques for stress management. It was attended by IBA's students, staff and faculty, and involved them speaking about their individual experiences with stress.
Saaya Health is a Pakistani Tech start-up that provides online solutions geared towards well-being for companies and individuals. Saaya is founded and lead by a mental health professional, a tech entrepreneur, and a business strategist who have experience working in Pakistan, the Middle East and Scandinavia. Their portal can be accessed at www.saayahealth.com