The Psychology Club is for people interested in psychology to learn and share their knowledge and gain more perspective on how the human mind and consequently the world works in the form of discussions, debates, etc, on controversial theories and different case studies. We also wish to promote topics such as mental health issues and make people aware of these topics. We have bimonthly meetings with various agenda, including but not limited to:

• Discussion and debate over controversial psychology theories, case studies and perspectives
• Providing a platform for people to share their own experiences and teachings related to psychology, and widen their knowledge and worldview. For example, we plan to discuss the psychology behind sexuality and genders, discrimination, superstitions, the belief in a higher power, etc.
• Exploring the significance of various theories and understanding psychology
• Organization of events that encourage awareness about psychology, like an event for Mental Health Awareness Day.
• Share awareness though a social media platform wherein we summarize points from our discussion and share it with people. (Instagram Handle)
• Provide additional support for those struggling with mental health issues. (Via our IG page)

Class Code: grffc2j	Example of a Session – Analyzing Sherlock This includes pre-session resources, presentation, recordings and an article written by a member,

LO 1: Identify their own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.

I believe that my biggest strength in this project was that I love psychology, and I was, and still am, very keen to unravel the mysteries of the human mind. Other than that, my strengths were that I had good organizational skills and had experience with taking sessions because of Illumination Inc. I also had excellent research skills which allowed me to find quality resources for the club which made sessions more informative and engaging. 

An area of personal growth was managing social media. While I was not responsible for this, and we had volunteers for this as well, there were certain topics for which I needed to create content. This was a little difficult because I did not have any experience with social media posting and did not know how to make them fun and interesting. Another difficulty was in marketing the page which I mostly did through word of mouth, since I do not have an Instagram account. So, my goal was to understand about social media marketing and content writing, which I learned from a course called “Social Media Marketing Specialization” offered by Northwestern University.

LO 2: Demonstrate that they have undertaken challenges, developing new skills in the process.

Due to COVID-19, we were unable to have sessions in person and had to rely upon Google Meet to have meetings. Because of this, there were problems in communication within the team, with the service volunteers, club members and supervisors. However, we overcame this by using Google Hangouts and Whatsapp as a means of easy communication. We also set up reminders using Google Calendar, so that our work was easy and we did not need to set up meetings.

Another challenge we faced in the online platform was that many members were not comfortable keeping their cameras on. It made it difficult for me to gauge their understanding and/or reaction to the topics. It also made the sessions very tedious for me personally. Luckily, we did have a few members who routinely kept their cameras on, and if not, interacted with enthusiasm, which made the sessions fun for everyone.

LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

While the Psychology Club was easy to initiate, I don’t think we realised how much work we actually needed to do in this experience. Since I had to plan sessions bimonthly (that is twice a month), it was challenging to be ready with the resources. Planning a session involved doing preliminary research for all the topics, since I handled session planning, creating the presentation, doing in-depth research about my assigned topics, reviewing the presentation, having an internal meeting with the other co-presidents, sending calendar invites and pre-session resources, and then finally having the session. This is very time consuming and stressful, but admittedly, the entire experience was rewarding since I learned so much about collaboration and time management, and the knowledge I gained and shared is precious for me.

LO4: Show commitment and perseverance in their CAS experience.

Perseverance and commitment were more or less mandatory in this experience. As I mentioned above, I needed to commit a lot of time and effort for this experience. In addition to this, this experience lasted for over a year, and will continue next year as well. I have faced many highs and lows in this club experience, but I truly believe that I have persevered and worked through any difficulties in my path.

LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively. 

In the Psychology Club, we were three co-presidents, which allowed us to divide the tasks and achieve more in less time. I handled session planning, Prisha handled logistics and communications, and Nishtha handled social media. This allowed us to focus on the different aspects of the club, and ensured we provided quality content to the club members and our social media audience. 

LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

In recent years, there has been increasing acknowledgement of the important role mental health plays in achieving global development goals, as illustrated by the inclusion of mental health in the Sustainable Development Goals. Depression is one of the leading causes of disability. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29-year-olds. People with severe mental health conditions die prematurely – as much as two decades early – due to preventable physical conditions. Despite progress in some countries, people with mental health conditions often experience severe human rights violations, discrimination, and stigma.^[1] Our club raises awareness about mental health through social media, and we also promoted awareness by having several sessions in our school on Mental Health Awareness Day. 

LO7: Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

We had to be very mindful about what we speak and show in the sessions and also in the content. We could very easily trigger someone or provide misinformation which would have greater ramifications in their lives. In addition to this, I believe that our actions are ethical because mental health is a big issue, which needs to be catered to NOW. Stigma and discrimination against this are just causing people to hide their problems and consider drastic decisions like suicide, and we as the new generation need to become aware about topics like this, and make others aware in order to make this world a better place.

Learner Profiles

I have demonstrated several learner profiles:

• Thinker – I used my critical thinking skills for problem solving and last minute changes, such as planning the sessions, changing content during meetings in order to make it more engaging, etc.
• Reflective – I assessed and evaluated my strengths and weaknesses regularly during the course to try to improve on my self-management skills and thinking skills. I also had to judge the effectiveness of the sessions in order to make changes if required.
• Communicator –  I effectively communicated with different stakeholders like students, other members of my group, teachers, supervisors, coordinators, etc, through different forms of communication. I also communicated with various students not associated with the psychology club about mental health, and other such things, in order to make them aware about it.