Mental Wellness Matters

While May is Mental Health Awareness month, what we are cognizant of is the fact that mental wellness is a holistic approach to life and matters each day, every day. From personal spaces, workplace to classrooms, mental wellness has been a double-edged sword, not the easiest to diagnose, understand, or support. This predominantly stemmed from the late rising of the world to the epidemic that mental illness has become alongside the rise of digital revolution, climate change and rapid global evolution. The past few decades have been an uprising in the mental health cases and the time to ponder was yesterday, today we need to act. In the upcoming sections we will explore the various initiatives taken by organisations, individuals and governments world from the forefront of combating mental health issues. Here we go.

UNICEF and Spotify

Two organisations that present uniquely different services to young people collaborated to support their mental wellbeing. In 2023, a new Spotify destination was launched named, Our Minds Matter, with the initial focus to respond to the needs of youth affected by the Ukraine war. Our Minds Matter is a safe space with verified information and breaking the stigma that still surrounds mental wellness. All content on this destination is available free of charge. In 2024, this mental health hub had reached Latin America.

Tele-MANAS by GOI

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele-MANAS) in 2022 and recently announced that they had received one million calls since inception. This toll-free number receives almost 3500 calls a day. The initiative was launched as a multi-language support between mental health professionals and callers in need to provide support services, including call backs to check on progress and safety.

NAMAN in Karnataka and Uttarakhand

Mental wellness should not be limited to the economically and geographically privileged communities. In line with this ethos, NAMAN, a programme for preventive treatment and rehabilitation in rural communities was launched in 2023 in Karnataka.

Ashraya Hastha Trust in association with Karnataka and Uttarakhand health departments alongwith NIMHANS, launched NAMAN in Belur taluk, Hassan district in Karnataka and Munsiyari taluk, Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand.

IITs in Focus

With the rising cases in depression related to both entrance test pressure and the competitive performances at the top tier colleges such as IITs, many educational institutions have come forward with aids to sensitise and support caregivers and students on mental wellbeing. IIT-Bombay has had a history of working closely on the cause since the 1980s. In 2022 ‘Handbook of Hand-holding and Healing: Counselling at IIT Bombay’ was released as literature that could help guardians and students understand mental health, its importance, need for support and other relevant information pertaining to the institute. They have created a questionnaire which students fill up and it helps the institute notice early signs if any, of emotional difficulties. They also have various sessions beyond the classrooms to make it easier for students to open up and engage with qualified in-house counsellors.

Suiting Up for Mental Health

Corporate giants such as KPMG and Goldman Sachs have come with their own initiatives to help reduce workforce burnout. KPMG proactively identifies employees susceptible to burnout using data points such as hours spent, leaves taken, meetings attended and so on and once they hit red based on unhealthy amount of time and energy spent, their managers do an energy check-in, to understand their mental situation and also to request a step back based on their health needs. At Goldman Sachs mental health training is an important tool where senior employees undertake sessions to equip themselves with knowledge and skills that can in turn be used to help their teams.

Digital Technology as Aid

A technology-powered mental health initiative in United States of America is saving young lives. Nathan Short from Encinitas Union School District in California started on this project based on a personal loss and has now fine tuned it to help many young students. The technology monitors students’ behaviour online on school owned devices, with consent from parents. Each term typed by a student is flagged based on how dangerous or alarming it may be, even if they have deleted the same. The alert then allows the school authorities to help the student, based on how immediately they need help. Short has quoted that there was a time when a student with just five minutes from self-harm was saved. This technology has now prevented and saved hundreds.

These novel examples in spotlight are encouraging and show us that there is light at the end of the tunnel and torches on the way. As organisations we need to ramp up our work towards mental wellbeing with up-to-date initiatives because in this digital era, things are changing fast and how. Mental wellness can not and should not be overlooked. As individuals we need to watch out for any alerts within our community and direct them to the right sources of help. While it may take a long time for us to break down the severity of the situation, there is no better time to start but now. To our readers, we request you to take care of yourself and reach out for support to reliable and verified professionals and groups.