When you mention the word ‘counsellor’, people immediately think that you are mad,” says a 19-year-old Sanket Gala, when asked how people in his age group perceive counselling for mental health. A student of Ramnarain Ruia College, Gala experiences muscular dystrophy. And if you head to Ummeed Child Development Centre’s (CDC) office, you’ll find a snippet of what mental health looks like to him and how he responds to it, in a new publication called Jugaad that’s available for free. But it isn’t just his story — Gala’s account is accompanied by those of 13 others aged between 14 and 19.

Jugaad was conceptualised in June last year. Making things work or simply “jugaad” defines Mumbai in a way no other word does. But in the context of mental health, these 14 stories shed light on how adolescents navigate challenges. The stories in the book are curated by Yashna Vishwanathan, who works as a mental health worker with Ummeed CDC, and are illustrated by Ananya Broker Parekh. It all started with a little gathering where young people associated with the CDC, or their partners could come together and talk — the experiences of living with autism, bipolar disorder, cerebral palsy among other things.