Sesame Workshop India launches new emotional health and wellbeing resources for families grappling with Covid-19 impact

The new phase includes five new videos featuring popular Sesame Street characters like Elmo and Grover, as they learn to handle big changes, hold mindful moments, take care of themselves and their loved ones and more. In one such video launched on Thursday, Grover and Elmo learn about the different ways families say goodbye to kids going back to school and parents returning to work, like giving each other hugs or doing a special “goodbye dance.” Additional videos and resources will be released on a rolling basis over the coming months globally, including in the US, Middle East, India, South Korea and Turkey.

With the ongoing Covid-19 pandmeic, families around the world have faced increased levels of stress among other social and economic challenges. Even before the pandemic, in 2019, the Indian Journal of Psychiatry stated that 50 million children in India suffered from mental health issues, and 80-90% of those have not sought help. According to a recent UNICEF report, 14% of people aged between 15 and 24 years, or one in seven individuals, reported feeling depressed or had little interest in engaging in activities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mental health-related emergency department visits in the US rose 24% for children between the ages of 5 and 11 and 31% for those aged between 12 and 17 beginning in April 2020, in comparison to the year before.

“As members of the global healthcare community, we’ve seen firsthand the pandemic’s lasting social and emotional effects in all corners of the globe. We first engaged with Sesame Workshop in 2020 during the height of Covid-19 and saw the impact their resources had on helping families navigate tough times. Through this second phase, we are extending our support of Sesame Workshop to enable a new body of resources for families globally,” said Lara Ramsburg, head of corporate affairs for Viatris. “Viatris is committed to empowering people worldwide to live healthier at every stage of life, regardless of geography or circumstance, and improving health begins from the inside out. We could not be prouder to support Sesame Workshop and continue to help countless individuals, children, families and caregivers,” she said in a press note.

The new resources, which can be found on the website of Sesame Workshop India are designed to encourage positive conversations between children, caregivers and families about separation anxiety and the effects of isolation and unpredictability, communicating changes and uncertainty, mitigating parental stress amidst personal loss and economic strains, as well as normalizing asking for help.

“We have been committed to build critical socio-emotional and cognitive skills of children for the rapidly changing world,” Sonali Khan, managing director, Sesame Workshop India, said. “We are grateful for the generous support of Viatris as we continue to provide resources to help young children process big feelings, communicate with their friends and grown-ups, and take care of themselves and their communities.”

The materials launched are part of Sesame Workshop’s ‘Caring for Each Other’ initiative, which was created in 2020 in response to the uncertainty families continue to face during the pandemic. To date, the initiative has reached families in more than 100 countries and 41 languages, said the note.