Is your mental health in safe hands
sometimes i wonder
what would happen if my 20 year old self
stressed lonely and homesick
would not have found a good counsellor
would i be giving this tedx talk today
would i be addressing this wonderful
audience in front of me
perhaps not actually definitely not
let me take you back to my story i was
this 20 year old
on a journey to discover myself for the
first time
i had shifted from my home city to a
completely new city to do my masters
now this was a very difficult phase of
my life
for the first time i was moving away
from the comfort of my home
trying to make new friends in college at
the age of 20
attending college every day because
attendance was compulsory with a pile
of heavy counselling books life was
difficult
and it was happening to me for the first
time i was scared
i was lonely and i was crying
but at the same time along with the
storm of my emotions
my university kept me busy by giving its
fair share of surprises
unrealistic deadlines at least in my
head
college had just started and we started
receiving tons of submissions
surprise tests were weekly business
and news flash we had to take 10
sessions
of mandatory therapy for ourselves yes
you heard that right
it was a compulsory condition for us if
it was not
i don’t think so i would have ever taken
uh therapy for myself
like 80 of our population i was
practically unaware of what happens in
the four or
four wall of therapy room how will it
really help me
and the most pressing question do i
really need it what’s wrong with me
but today when i look back i knew what
were the exact dangers
i was in because at that time
the most pressing decision for me was
whether to buy an hp laptop
or a lenovo laptop but now that i’m in
this field more than three years
having seen hundreds of clients
when they come to me feeling completely
lost and resistant towards therapy it’s
very difficult for me to watch
some of their narratives were very
shocking i want you to pay careful
attention
to these stories that clients have
shared with me
i felt she was advising me like i’m her
child
when i told him my views i could
literally see judgment on his face
i felt like she was giving me
generalized solutions
she ended up sharing my secrets with
father
i felt betrayed each of these stories
scream breach of ethical mental health
practices
if you have heard them very carefully
you could be one of these people if you
are not putting a lot of thought and
effort
of how to choose a right mental health
professional
to give your own mental health in their
responsible hands
then it will be very difficult for you
when i heard these stories i was very
intrigued to know what’s really
happening in this profession
so i tried to do a qualitative research
on 14 mental health professionals from
mumbai
and from bangalore what i found from
this study was very interesting and even
alarming
right from having very little
understanding of ethics
and law in the mental health field to
doing short-term courses
and then falling into the psychology
field calling themselves therapist
i thought what a waste of seven years of
my studies
i also found that 65 percent of
professionals do not seek therapy
themselves
imagine me fighting with my parents at
home and coming and taking your session
how would that session go it will be
very miserable for your mental health
and for mine as well
it is also very disturbing
that for counselling psychologists
there is no license exam there is no
government
and there is no ruling authority that
will govern the
practices run by mental health
professionals
this is a most pressing need that was
back then
and still remains so if you are in the
same place
that i was in back that time to choose a
right therapist
i hope this following checklist will
help you in making that correct
responsible and impactful decision for
yourself
minimum master’s degree in counseling
psychology
does not indulge in advice giving or
giving personal opinions
uses scientific evidence-based practices
charges fees for services and meets only
in professional setting
having open and flexible mind about
differences in opinions
and lastly seeks personal therapy and
supervision for themselves
okay now that we have talked a lot about
how to choose a mental health
professional
i’m sure that you all are equipped here
to choose a correct
good and ethical mental health
professional for yourself
now i want you i want you to just focus
back at me again
and have your complete attention
especially all the millennials out there
so currently what what situation are we
facing what are we going through
the pandemic right so since the pandemic
has happened
our world is completely shifted online
right from attending birthday parties
attending weddings
joining virtual workouts to even working
from home
sorry a small correction walking from
your beds
and this is working out very well for
you millennials because it’s comfortable
it’s very convenient it is virtual
and also involves a gadget in your hand
if your mother tells you to buy
vegetables what you do
you order them online if your ac is not
working
you order a technician online yes
nowadays even
people can be ordered online
if you’re not feeling well if your days
are
not so great if you’re going through
lower phase of your life
what do you do you download a mental
health app
yes an app for mental health
now what worries me in this is that
these kind of apps
they give you generalized solutions they
give you quick fixes
they give you ready-made solutions
but what worries me is that this is not
therapy guys
therapy requires dedication it requires
long term
efforts here they are giving you very
friendly therapy which is almost for 299
rupees
my nephew’s toys are more expensive than
that
if our problems are not developed
overnight
then how can you expect that you will
get the solutions
in just one moment like that
it requires for you to get in touch with
the root of your emotional problems
and then trying to deal with them
therapy process requires great amount of
time
effort and long-term dedication
now i also wanted to make this shift
online
trying to connect with my clients trying
to give my services
on an accessible medium for them
but when i actually fall into that field
i saw
various online platforms and what i was
taught back then
and what was really happening in the
field was very contradictory and there
was no match at all
i couldn’t stand it so i thought let me
start by my own
i wanted to start my own mental health
organization
and i started it i named it as my voyage
a journey with him and i decided that i
will work on
three aims and will stick very firmly to
that
the first one was making therapy very
normal
normalizing the entire process
destigmatizing therapy
second was
to make my service very accessible
through online mediums
and third very important keeping ethical
practices
and legal laws in place and by adhering
them trying to give out
the traditional therapy but when i move
forward this journey was not so easy
i was competing with very large
platforms big big websites with lot of
fundings
tech savvy apps and here i was having
zero presence online
nowhere my name was there on google i
had no social media whatsoever
but i wanted to start with baby steps
so i started my instagram page and that
was because
i like writing posts i like
creating creative
mediums i like writing so i started with
that i also made my own website and
tried to hire a professional from
a technology background to do that for
me
today there are about 1500 people who
are
using mind voyage for their mental
health services
and this was only possible because i
took that external help which was
required
over the time if i have realized
anything
if you are not aware as a consumer of
what you want
then people will fool you if you don’t
know what is it that you’re looking for
then it’s very easy to take your
advantage
this decision of going to therapy and
choosing your counselor
is very important and crucial decision
in your life
it can either make or break your mental
health
as i have seen bad therapy outcomes i
also have seen good therapy outcomes
and this is literally the point that i
tried to make today through my talk
just consider this example when you are
if at all you had to go through a
surgery
what do you do what kind of background
check do you do on that doctor
you will read their google reviews you
will go to the hospital that they are
working for
you will try to gain feedback from all
possible sources that you can
also you will go and talk to that doctor
right so
why not do the same when it comes to
your mental health
at the end a peaceful mind will only
lead to a happy life
so after hearing today’s talk i hope
that you all are very well equipped
to choose your right therapist and have
open frame of mind towards seeking
a professional help when it comes to
your mental health
and this one question will drive you
is your mental health in safe hands
thank you