New Delhi, 4th December’20 : India’s one of the  virtual listening platform Eat Luv N Pray on Tuesday launched a campaign titled ‘Talk to Heal’ in a bid to reach out to people facing issues related to mental health. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that has prevailed during year 2020, the platform further aims to reach out to those who have been in isolation, currently in isolation and also those who are facing depression-like symptoms due to lockdown or remote working situations. As part of the campaign, the participants can avail free online consultation with in-house health experts at Eat Luv N Pray.

To maximize the reach of the campaign, corporate entities have also been invited to come onboard to enable counseling and consultation sessions for their employees. Eat Luv N Pray also invites people to register for group Zoom discussions with the platform’s founders and health experts. Those interested can register for the Zoom sessions through Eat Luv N Pray’s profiles on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Speaking about the campaign, Eat Luv N Pray co-founders Sonia Arora Sood and Priyanka Wadhera said the idea behind launching ‘Talk to Heal’ is that we faced unprecedented situations during 2020, which adversely affected the mental health of a large chunk of people. They further said that since we are nearing the end of the year, it is time we take adequate measures that contribute towards mental well-being.

The virtual listening platform, launched recently by Eat Luv N Pray Foundation, provides preventive care by listening and letting users vent out their innermost feelings and refrain self from heading towards acute mental illness. The platform ensures complete anonymity and considers mental health the core of overall well-being. Eat Luv N Pray provides research-based emotional support to individuals over phone, video discussions, forums and social media. People from all walks of the society can be a part of the campaign through https://www.eatluvnpray.org/.

The post Bid adieu to Covid-hit 2020 with ‘Talk to Heal’ appeared first on Health Vision.

In a bid to elevate the overall mental health of young Indians, a group of young entrepreneurs have launched the country’s largest virtual listening platform ‘Eat Luv N Pray’. The platform, launched by ELNP Foundation, aims to provide preventive care by listening and letting users vent out their innermost feelings and refrain self from heading towards acute mental illness.

The platform ensures complete anonymity and considers mental health the core of overall wellbeing. ELNP Foundation provides research-based emotional support to individuals over phone, video discussions, forums and social media. All they need to do to get started is create a member account on the online platform https://www.eatluvnpray.org/.

The Eat Luv N pray is co-founded by successful entrepreneurs Sonia Arora Sood, Priyanka Wadhera and Manoj Agrawal, with a vision to create a holistic mental wellness virtual platform that allows users to simply log in and talk about issues with trained counsellors and informed experts. The platform helps users understand the seven dimensions of wellness and cover the entire cycle through their Eat Luv N Pray journey. The platform aims to touch at least 10 million lives and create for them a ‘Never Alone’ moment with the power of active listening.

On the occasion of the platform’s launch, co-founder Sonia said, “There are endless numbers of apps offering scattered services, but what we offer is a companion who would offer a curated range of services and products one needs to ensure the mental wellness of self and family. Going forward, we would offer a real-time clinic to provide paid mental health services.”

Echoing the sentiments, co-founder Priyanka added, “Many of us are yet to realize the power of merely speaking with a trained counsellor, who would focus on ascertaining troubling issues rather than advising at every step. They would be well equipped to suggest as to when any user just needs to be heard and when they need the guidance of a qualified medical professional.”

Studies suggest that as many as 28 youngsters commit suicide in our country each day. The realization that there was no dedicated service to help tackle this menace of depression led to the inception of Eat Luv N Pray Foundation, which would be a one-stop destination for everyone between the age group of 15-29 years seeking a constant companion who could just hear them out. This assumes even more significance in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has propelled a demand for better mental health and physical well-being.

Notably, the platform has in its panel a group of well qualified and experienced medical professionals such as psycho therapists and psychiatrists. The Eat Luv N Pray further aspires to create livelihoods for members of the inclusive category. Apart from these, any individual wanting to get trained and volunteer as a listener can reach out to the founders through the platform.

The post Speak your heart out with Eat Luv N Pray. appeared first on Health Vision.

Do you all know that India has the highest rate of suicide among the Southeast Asian region? India among other countries witnesses the highestnumber of suicides in the world. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), every one hour one student commits suicide in India. Every year the suicide rates are witnessing a jump. Compared to the suicide deaths in 2018, the year 2019 witnessed an increase of 3.4 percent. Every day, India lost 381 lives to suicide in 2019, as per NCRB data.

There is no health without mental health:

People commit suicide for many reasons and most of the time family members or friends may not be aware of or may ignore the reasons behind the suicide of their loved ones. When we closely look at the reasons for ‘suicide’ or ‘self-harm’ in most of the instances it could be due to uncured ‘mental illness’. This can prompt the person to take an extreme step in their life.

Mental health is an integral component of health. According to the World Health Organisation, “There is no health without mental health”. The mental health of a person includes his/her emotional, psychological, and social well-being. No matter which stage of life- childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age, and senior years we are in, mental health is important in all of these stages.

Even today there is a taboo associated with the discussion about mental health. The taboo has to be broken with community awareness to achieve progress in improving mental health.

Why mental health is important?

Mental health can turn into a serious condition as it affects our mood and the way we think and behave. It determines how we relate to others, how we make choices, and how we handle the stress factor. To realize one’s full potential and work productively, mental health is very crucial.

On the other hand, mental health is important as it has a direct relation to physical health. It can significantly increase the risk of physical health problems like heart diseases, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. It is a reality that people do not give the same importance to mental health as they give to physical health.

How can mental health play a role in overall well-being?

All of us must ask a question on how often do we think about our mental health which is very much needed for us to live and flourish? The answer in many cases may not be encouraging. This indicates that we have all have taken mental health for granted. Do not neglect your mental health and let this be on your priority as it directly affects your well-being.

Simple tips to maintain good mental health:
1. Get ample rest and sleep always.
2. Be active and fit. Exercise regularly
3. Connect with others. Speak to your family members and friends regularly.
4. Learn to handle stress. Meditate regularly to control stress. Develop hobbies like gardening, cooking, listening to music to manage stress.
5. Be confident. Learn something new every day.
6. Do not try to imitate others, be comfortable always.
7. Never set unrealistic targets for yourself. It might lead to disappointments
8. Eat well and consume healthy food.
9. Devote time to things that bring joy to you.

And at last, do not feel shy to reach out to help when you need it. It’s okay to be not-okay but it’s not okay despite being not-okay you are not seeking the help.

Dr.Pallavi Arvind Joshi
Consultant – Psychiatrist,
Columbia Asia Hospital
Whitefield – Bengaluru

The post Mental health plays a role in overall well-being – Follow these simple steps appeared first on Health Vision.

Mumbai, 9^th October 2020 – This World Mental Health Day, commemorated on 10^th October, sees the launch of Mann Talks, an initiative to empower individuals, from underserved sections of the society, to take charge of their mental health by offering free and holistic tech-enabled mental health solutions.

The initiative is founded on the belief that mental health is an integral and essential component of health. By democratizing access to information, strengthening support systems and providing quality services, Mann Talks hopes to transform lives.

It is estimated that 1 in 7 Indians suffer from poor mental health[1]. Common mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety go undiagnosed or untreated due to lack of public understanding, stigma, and the dearth of trained mental health professionals. Amidst a global pandemic, the situation has only worsened due to various inter sectional factors, including forced isolation, unemployment and inability to access previously available services.

Mann Talks believes in taking a collaborative approach and has partnered with pioneering organizations in the social sector including Dasra, iCALL and White Swan Foundation for mental health. Mann Talks has a three-pronged approach, a helpline, a digital portal and on-ground activations. The helpline  will assist in free and confidential, emotional and psychological consultation through a team of trained mental health professionals.

The helpline has standardized protocols in adherence to the best practices in the sector. The digital portal will impart simplified, medically vetted knowledge on mental health in regional languages. It will also include information for care-givers to enable them to help their loved ones. Lastly, for on-ground activations, Mann Talks will be exploring high-impact pilots to integrate mental health services into existing government and community systems.

Individuals looking for support can access ‘Mann Talks’ and speak to a counsellor by simply calling 8686139139 between 9 am to 6 pm on all days of the week. For further information, individuals can log on to www.manntalks.org. Mann Talks is an initiative of the Shantilal Shanghvi Foundation, the family foundation of Mr. Dilip Shanghvi.

[1] The Lancet Psychiatry article on ‘The burden of mental disorders across the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2017

The post Mann Talks’ free counselling to empower individuals to take charge of their mental health appeared first on Health Vision.

The world has been in lockdown since what feels like an eternity. It has given every one more time to introspect which has brought up their mental struggles to the forefront. A lot many times, people who might be at unrest mentally occupy themselves with chores/socializing and neglect these issues. But with the inability to go out, the lack of physical contact has definitely added to the feelings of loneliness, depression, confinement. It’s thus important to understand that most people who attempt suicide or die by suicide don’t want to die – they just want their pain to end or can’t see another way out of their situation.

Mental Health issues/challenges don’t occur overnight but unfortunately, we do not talk about mental health aspect of living beings at all. An individual usually goes through a long struggle with themselves but when persistently everything seems helpless, they attempt suicide. The sad part however is that instead of talking about mental health and addressing related issues so that we can help someone, the society is more intrigued about discussions about hypothetical shady reasons behind such attempt.

Suicide or giving up is not an option:

Someone who attempts suicide or dies by suicide doesn’t mean that they were not resilient but it only means that they couldn’t take it anymore and decided to end their life. Being someone who in the past has tried to end it all herself two times, I know I didn’t want to die but I wanted my pain to stop and I saw no other way. Fortunately, I didn’t die, and today here I am, in my designated role as a mental health counsellor, helping people with their mental health challenges.

The things that I have realised from my own experience and after helping my clients who had a tendency to self-harm is that dying is not a solution. Rather it’s important to realize that if we work on our emotions, strengthen our mind, take all the possible help we can and determine ourselves to face the challenges that come our way- Life is actually worthy of being celebrated. Giving up is not an option. 

A person who has fatal thoughts might not ask for help directly owing to the fact that most of the time they themselves don’t know what is triggering them or is spiralling them down. But that doesn’t mean that help isn’t wanted. We need to realize that mourning someone’s death can be prevented by just being there for when they actually need.

Aware of unusual behavioral patterns (warning signs): 

The entire world is a big family and only if we all decide to come together can we make a difference. I’ll share some ways to help identify if someone around you needs help, so that we can, in time, help them by being aware of unusual behavioral patterns (warning signs) like:

1. Experiencing mood swings – depressed, angry or enraged.

2. Feeling hopelessness, helplessness, worthless, guilty, or ashamed or read or write about dying.

3. Suddenly seem calm after they have been depressed or suicidal.

4. Access to harmful things like rope, gun.

5. Turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with difficult feelings or thoughts.

6. Lose or gain a lot of weight and unusual eating patterns.

7. Uncertain and unusual sleep cycles, unusual eating patterns.

I understand, being at the receiving end of an emotionally loaded conversation especially with someone who is majorly depressed or might have suicidal thoughts could be challenging and overwhelming.

1. Ask them if they would like to talk about what’s going on with them. They might not want to open up straight away, but letting them know you are there for them is a big help. If they don’t feel comfortable opening up to you ask them if you could help them connect with someone they would feel more comfortable with.

2. Accept their feelings and acknowledge that their feelings is real and possible. Listen and don’t judge. Take them seriously. Let them know you care.

3. Offer to help them make an appointment, and go with them if you can. Don’t leave them alone – make sure someone stays till they are better.

4. Seek support from professionals, and from other people, they trust including family or friends.

People with mental illnesses or the ones who have had painful and majorly life-changing events are more likely to commit suicide. So, if you know someone going through any of the above mentioned points-reach out to them, check up on them and be conscious of their feelings and behaviour. Having said that you never know what someone is going through, so be kind, be compassionate no matter what. You don’t need to have all the answers, or to offer advice. The best thing you can do is be there and listen.

Arouba Kabir – Mental Health Counselor
Founder – Enso Wellness

The post Suicide an act from pain and not weakness. appeared first on Health Vision.