The Essence of Health | Dr. Craig Hassed

Professor Craig Hassed OAM has been working within the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University since 1989. Prof. Craig developed and integrated into the Monash medical curriculum the world-first mindfulness-based healthy lifestyle course called the Health Enhancement Programand. He has authored over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has published 14 books and 16 book chapters. He was the founding president and patron of Meditation Australia, is a Smiling Mind ambassador and a regular media commentator featuring in the documentaries, The Connection, and My Year of Living Mindfully. He co-authored with Richard Chambers two free Mindfulness MOOCs (massive open online courses) in collaboration with Monash University and FutureLearn, both of which are rated by Class Central as the two leading online mindfulness courses globally and among the 10 top online courses for any subject in the world. In 2019 Prof. Craig was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to Medicine.
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About the program : Medicine is a unique & noble professions. Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals have long considered their jobs to be a calling. They usually enter the field with a high sense of hope and a desire to help & heal people's lives. Teaching and practice of healthcare and medicine has witnessed many changes in the past few decades due to changing sociocultural and economic factors across the globe. The crisis of Mental health issues has been sweeping the world and are well recognized worldwide among medical students and healthcare professionals with medical education accounting for one of the most stressful learning environments. These issues are often under reported owing to stigma due to several factors, such as fear of being evaluated poorly by faculty members, diminished respect from peers, or being perceived as unable to handle responsibilities. *Evidence suggests that almost 80% of doctors, especially at the earlier stages of their academics and career, face the risk of Burnout. 30% of Indian doctors and physicians go through depression, while 17% have experienced thoughts about ending their life. There is a genuine need in curriculum and training culture of medical and healthcare science for advocacy for well being and impart stress management and resilience-building skills of health professionals at a young age. It would help them become more self-reliant in dealing with their own and other’s mental health concerns, thus restoring joy and professional fulfillment to the practice of health care and medicine. The National Medical Commission (NMC) has identified that teaching and learning of medical ethics, behavioral sciences, communication skills, and managerial skills have not received due attention in the existing medical curriculum. The proposed Attitude, Ethics, and Communication Module or ‘AETCOM’ module as a part of undergraduate medical education has the goal of instilling in students an empathetic and positive attitude, medical ethics, professionalism, communication, and leadership skills, as well as encouraging a spirit of lifelong learning, right from the 1st professional year of training. By virtue of its nature of self-reflection and self-awareness, Spirituality apart from knowledge of mental health, may be a way of achieving these goals. In light of this, Mental Health Foundation (India) in association with Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and RAHAT Charitable & Medical Research Trust is organizing a three-day virtual event based on the theme of “Unlocking the Power of Being: Healing Self & Others”. Through this event, we raise the curtain on what we can do to help our medical students and health care professionals in their journey of healing self and others. The program is centered on discussions and presentations by notable speakers with real-world experience, and it aims to bring together national and international health professionals from many walks of life under the same roof.