Lately, I have been hearing from more people, witnessed in close friend circle, have read relatively more issues in social media platforms and have encountered more patients experiencing and complaining some sort of mental illness, on and off the clinic setting. I have noticed that this trend has dramatically increased since the COVID lockdown situations. Even individuals who do not appear to have a mental illness nevertheless have expressed experiencing issues like rage, discontentment, mental stress, and internal commotion. Regardless of the circumstance, mental health still remains a stigma and concerned stakeholders are yet to realize the impact it shall create for we have always witnessed that the issues are identified as of concern only when we encounter yet another devastating suicide and suicide attempt news.

Having had witnessed a number of cases of early and severe depression very closely, every encounter has made me more empathetic and a better listener. I make a conscious effort to be their comfort zone. One such encounter was during my early undergrad days. I was in disbelief when someone whom I met and conversed every day in college and hospital, who had an image of a bold personality, who looked very normal shared with me the other day of having suicidal thoughts since a month. It surely took me sometime to accept and understand the the suffering and what the person might have been through since a month facing all that alone. Stories as such started to come more often since then. And first few initial cases made me feel helpless for I would dwell in disbelief and despair. It then started getting in more deeply to my inner self and I wished to create a better and supportive environment. I started planning activities, programs and projects to aid in the field of mental health awareness and mental illness prevention and taught myself and people around to become more empathetic and to offer myself to be comfort and safe space when someone needs.

Recently we have designed a program at Team NEPO and have launched it as ‘Adolescent Mental Health Literacy Project’, to educate, aware and inform the most vulnerable age group about the mental and behavioral disorders, pathways to care and promoting positive mental health. All of us, as an individual, can play significant role in addressing the burden brought about by the increasing trend of mental health issues hence, it’s important that we educate ourselves about mental health in order to create a supportive environment for people going through such issues and disorders.

#icareaboutmentalhealth #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalwellbeing #mayformentalawareness #healthandwellbeing #teamnepo #letstalkaboutmentalhealth #adolescentmentalhealth #amhlp #tn