Life Mantra Nepal’s five-day workshop on autism concludes

A workshop on autism conducted by Life Matra Nepal concluded successfully on Sunday.

Volunteers and health workers of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City-6 took part in the five-day workshop organized at the Urban Health Promotion Center, Ramhiti, Boudha, KMC-6.

The main objective of the workshop was to exchange knowledge and raise awareness about autism.

A report published by Autism Care Nepal Society (ACNS) estimated that 300, 000 children in Nepal are living with autism. Among them, 60,000 to 90,000 are severely affected.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects one in 160 children globally, and that boys are diagnosed with ASD more often than girls. However, some studies suggest that the gender disparity may be due to underdiagnosis of girls.

On the occasion, KMC-6 ward Chairman Bhuwan Lama underscored the need to develop a positive attitude towards breaking the deep-rooted stigma that autism is a mental illness. Instead, it is a development disorder.

He expressed his hope that this workshop would play an instrumental role to break the stigma towards autism in the society and encourage every individual and families to come forward and seek support they need.

Chairman Lama further hoped that this workshop would help the social workers go door-to-door to raise awareness about autism.

He also emphasized on expanding this kind of awareness campaign nationwide so as to educate the people about autism.

Life Mantra is an organization that raises mental health awareness through community programs, provides specialized counseling to help individuals overcome challenges and offers tailored training for education, health workers, parents and students.

 

The organization’s objective is to strive to foster social justice, equality, peace, and prosperity supporting disadvantaged groups like seniors, women, children and disaster survivors.

Life Mantra provides services like

 

- Individual Counseling (Relationship, Trauma, Depression, Anxiety, Stress)

 

- Yoga and Meditation

 

- Hiking for Well-being

 

- Training and Capacity Building Programs on Mental Health and Well-being

 

- Awareness Programs

 

- Parenting Skills Training

 

- Life Skills Training

 

- Rejuvenating Retreat