World Mental Health Day 2020: digital library of survivor stories, Mann Mela, launched to get young people in India to talk openly about anxiety and depression
- Talking openly about mental problems is vital, and Mann Mela, a mobile library of young people’s stories about overcoming them, was set up to spark conversation
- The stories, presented using graphic art, audio narration and animation, are aimed at 18- to 24-year-olds among India’s 200 million people with mental disorders
After her parents divorced when she was a child living in Chandigarh, northern India, Tarini Chawla struggled to cope. Her father’s alcoholism and abuse had badly affected her. Today, the 28-year-old financial consultant for KPMG, a business advisory in Bangalore, is also a vocal advocate for mental health.
Medication and therapy helped her a great deal, she says, but it wasn’t until she spoke openly about her problems that she began to see real change. Chawla began to blog about her struggles and open up to friends and colleagues.
“I healed a little every time I told my story,” she says. “And I realised that it was important for people to pay heed to their mental health challenges and to talk about them.”
Chawla’s story is now part of India’s first interactive digital mental health museum, Mann Mela, which launched in February this year.
Mann Mela documents inspiring stories of people who have mental health challenges caused by difficult situations and circumstances in their lives, and who are finding ways to heal.