In a nation of 140 crore plus people, where one in seven suffers from ‘mental disorders of varying severity’, mental health remains a subject kept under wraps. This makes reaching out to affected people extremely difficult – when there is enough time and when there’s not.
“One of the biggest challenges in mental health is combating the stigma surrounding it.” While there has been some progress, it is not sufficient given the enormity and pervasiveness of the problem,” expresses Priya Hiranandani-Vandrevala the co-founder of the Vandrevala Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving mental health in India.
An entrepreneur and philanthropist, Priya had made her passion for promoting mental health a mission of her life. In 2008, Priya and her husband, Cyrus Vandrevala, founded the Vandrevala Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with mental illness. She launched the 'Mental Health - India' initiative in 2009 under the aegis of her foundation to create awareness and provide support services for those experiencing emotional distress.
One of her deepest concerns remains that untimely addressed mental health issues are more likely to exacerbate to become a crisis in life. In many cases, the distressed person is driven to commit suicide.
Priya Hiranandani-Vandrevala has more than a point here. As per the National Crime Records Bureau report released last year, more than 164,000 cases of suicide were reported in India in 2021, indicating that approximately 450 individuals took their own lives every day, which translates to around 18 suicides every hour.
For Priya, suicide is highly preventable. “The majority of calls made to suicide prevention services around the world result in a life being saved.”
Drawing from her own experience with mental health issues, which inspired her to work in the space, she adds, “There’s a personal connection I share with mental illness, as it had a direct impact on my family. In 2006, I lost my uncle to suicide. I have also seen other family members struggling with mental health issues.”
As a result, her organization, the Vandrevala Foundation has launched several initiatives, including establishing a free helpline. The helpline is staffed by trained professionals who provide confidential counseling and referrals to mental health services. It provides free psychological counselling and crisis intervention services from trained counsellors to anyone feeling anxious, depressed, stressed, lonely, and suicidal.
Her foundation has collaborated with several public and private organizations such as the Gujarat Police, Vadodara Police, Surat Police, Emmanuel Hospital Association, St. Stephen's Hospital in Delhi, and the Mar Thoma Church to promote mental wellness to the masses on several occasions.
Accessibility is a key focus area for Priya and her Foundation. Through the helpline, the Vandrevala Foundation is working towards making counselling services accessible to people at any hour of need. The helpline is not only offering round-the-clock counselling and crisis intervention services, but it is also offering services in 11 languages.
“So as we were onboarding more counsellors, we recognized the importance of providing language-specific services. We had to be sure that we build some language skills.” Priya adds from her experience of overseeing the functioning of the helpline.
She goes on to explain, “This is because, if you have on the other line someone who speaks only in Hindi trying to communicate to an English-speaking counsellor who is not conversational in the same language, it's not going to work out too well. So we made sure we had counselors who could speak different languages to make sure everyone could get the help they need.”
The Vandrevala Foundation helpline didn’t stop evolving its services. In 2021, it integrated WhatsApp services with its helpline only to realize that the younger generation preferred reaching out to the helpline over WhatsApp rather than on call. Priya was quick to gauge that the new generation could express more through a messaging platform and that the WhatsApp service could encourage individuals to seek help at their convenience while securing their anonymity.
Remarking on the successful uptake of messaging service by the people, Priya explains, “We had started off the helpline receiving around 150 calls per month. Now we are having over 30,000 conversations at the same time. Almost 75% of our conversations are on WhatsApp, and 67% of women contact the Foundation on WhatsApp.”
Throughout the evolution of its helpline services, the major effort of Vandrevala Foundation has been towards two things. The first is to encourage psychologically distressed individuals to seek professional counselling and begin expressing themselves to reduce the chances of suicide. The second is to offer an avenue for crisis intervention to prevent suicide.
As per Priya, in order to prevent suicides, ‘between intention and action, there must be intervention.’
Priya's work in the mental health space has earned her recognition on the global stage. In 2011, the World Economic Forum (WEF) included Priya in its Forum of Young Global Leaders (YGL), which recognizes exceptional individuals under the age of 40 who are making a positive impact on the world. For the WEF's 2012 annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, she served as Chairman of the Steering Board of the WEF's Real Estate Community. Priya, an alumnus of Mumbai University, is a chartered accountant by qualification.
Priya serves on the Board of Penn Medicine and the American School in London. She is also a patron of the Elephant Family, whose goal is to halt the massive decline in the number of the endangered Indian elephant.
