Divija Bhasin, 25, was pursuing her second masters in psychology when the idea of creating mental health-related content struck her one day, while browsing TikTok. “I had always been an introvert, but used to create TikToks for fun and somehow gained around 12K followers. Once the app was banned, I realised how much I love creating content and used Reels to generate mental health awareness, while satisfying my creative needs. I started taking this more seriously, once I saw the appreciation from my audience,” shares the counselling psychologist-cum-content creator.
Bhasin likes to focus on social issues that impact one’s mental health. “The topics include our education system, therapy, culture, sexism, marriage, parenting, toxic positivity etc. I don’t like creating the usual ‘depression and anxiety’ content as it is overdone, and mental health is far more complex than these labels,” she believes.
More recently she founded The Friendly Couch, where she helps connect people with therapists she personally hires and vouches for. Her post that highlights the importance of talking openly about sexual health with our children for them to able to address the issues of child sexual abuse was particularly appreciated.
Speaking of mental health in men, she feels it’s unfortunate how it isn’t given any importance by the society and the men themselves, and says: “If you check the insights of The Friendly Couch, you’ll see that almost 90% of the followers are females. Even on my main page, female followers are in majority as are my clients. This doesn’t mean that men don’t suffer from mental health problems, rather they really hesitate to seek help and talk about their problems. We need to let go of this notion that people who struggle are weak.” Vandana S., a counsellor and a postgraduate in clinical psychology, noticed the misconceptions around mental health, be it in movies, on TV shows or amongst people, and she decided to create content on mental health as a way to give back to society. “I used to learn a lot from Instagram, this got me thinking and I began by creating posts first and videos gradually,” she says.
That is how her handle, Psychoflakes, was born on social media. “We try to break the stereotypes, stigma around mental disorders and mental health. We want to normalise therapy, people’s choices, and create an environment, where in being yourself is completely acceptable and normal,” shares Vandana, who specialises in trauma informed care, marital counselling, trading psychology, work-life imbalance, career counselling, and child psychology.
In fact, a lot of people have come to therapy after watching her videos, and many are encouraging their friends and family members to seek therapy. “People are educating others about the benefits of therapy, thereby normalising it,” Vandana says.
Among her posts that are particularly unique include topics like hallucinations, closure, and gender expression. Just like Bhasin and Vandana, a bunch of mental health-related content creators have been putting together messages that help raise awareness about emotional well-being. Here’s a look at few that are worth a scroll, and a click.
Shaheen Bhatt
@herecomesthesunofficial; 36.1K Followers
The daughter of film-maker Mahesh Bhatt, Shaheen’s candidness about her mental health issues at a time when the subject was taboo in India has made her the darling of Gen Z. Bhatt’s Insta handle Here Comes The Sun is all about encouraging conversations around mental health, and the topics range from boundary setting to anxiety, empathy, and more. She posts engaging narratives about toxic positivity versus genuine optimism, imposter syndrome, and grieving, among other important conversations.
Jova Ferreyra
@TheArtidote; 1.M Followers
This community was started in 2015 by life coach, international speaker, and artist Jova Ferreya, and is all about healing and bonding through the medium of art. They have online workshops and in-person gatherings, and topics depicted via artwork include self-reflection, resilience, practicing compassion with oneself, and healing. Jova practiced conscious reparenting for himself, and recommends it to his audiences. Some of the artworks that are popular on the handle include reparenting, giving each day your best, and signs of being on the right path in self realisation.
Marbles Lost And Found
Listen on Spotify and Apple Music
With the objective of raising awareness about mental health and its significance in daily life, Zain Calcuttawala and Avanti Malhotra began their podcast Marbles Lost & Found. The co-hosts can’t stress enough as to how similar mental healthcare is to physical well-being, and propagate normalising not feeling okay through the content they air on their podcasts. These podcasts, aired every Tuesday, are around 25-30 minutes long and topics range from self-care and self-worth to mental health and kids.
Mental Health With Sonal
YouTube; 88.5K subscribers
A Mumbai-based psychologist with over 14 years’ experience, Sonali Gupta creates YouTube videos, and releases a new one every Tuesday, in order to raise awareness about mental health and bust myths and misconceptions around mental health conditions. These videos are also available in Hindi. She tries to offer resources to help people take care of their emotional well-being. Topics include anxiety, signs of depression, and need for therapy.
(Lead Image: The Artidote)
