With the vision to make mental health treatment accessible for all, IIT Kharagpur MBA graduates Lawrance Bamania and Sakshi Shah launched Good Lives during the lockdown
Lawrance Bamania
With the vision to make mental health treatment accessible for all, IIT Kharagpur MBA graduates Lawrance Bamania and Sakshi Shah launched Good Lives during the lockdown. They offer end-to-end services for creating mental health awareness in offices and outside. Very recently, the team launched Mental Blossoms, a podcast that focuses on pandemic-induced stress, work-life balance and the LGBTQIA+ community. Bamania says, “One in every five people suffer from mental health problems. Through the podcast, we wish to reach out to as many audiences as possible.” But it’s their Insta Live sessions that have seen overwhelming response. They’ve been in touch with more than 2.5 lakh people, who’ve asked questions to therapists and sought guidance. Shah adds, “Along with social distancing, people also experienced emotional distancing. Many were stuck in locations away from their families, and felt a lack of connect. They had to spend a lot of time with their own self. An empty mind is a devil’s workshop—this became quite real for some people.”
Sakshi Shah
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Good Lives has released three episodes. The first introduces Sidhanta Borkataky, a therapist, who talks about stress management. The second offers LGBTQIA+ counselling, marriage and family therapy, and group therapy. In the third part of the series, Prakriti Nanda, therapist with Good Lives, and Diksha Sharma, content creator, touch on why therapy helps and the right time to seek it.
https://anchor.fm/goodlives
Dear stranger, I am listening
IT’S no secret anymore. We are all dealing with our own demons. But there are people out there, mostly on the Internet, who are listening to you. Ashish Bagrecha, author and narrator of Dear Stranger, I Know How You Feel, has now converted his title into an audio book, which he has narrated. Each episode tackles the everyday problems of loneliness, depression, heartbreak and anxiety.
Ashish Bagrecha wrote Dear Stranger, I Know How You Feel in 2018, now available as audio book
Edited excerpts from an interview:
Why did you decide to turn the 2018 title into an audio book now?
When I wrote the book, I was struggling with depression, anxiety and insomnia. I realised I have to express myself. The Dear Stranger notes I began to write were addressed to an anonymous someone, talking about how it is okay to feel what I was. Then some of my pieces went viral, and the book happened. Doing an audio book made sense because my followers said when they read the book, they felt like someone was talking to them.
Who is it best suited for?
I would describe the audiobook as “Your 12 am friend”. It is divided into 30 chapters, each tackling a day and a different problem—pain, heartbreak, depression, anxiety or identity crisis. I also address hope, healing, friendship, kindness and purpose. I end the book with a very important chapter on happiness. So, it’s a journey from pain to happiness.
What’s our biggest modern emotional malaise?
Loneliness. And heartbreak. How does one move on?
www.audible.com
He’s in the mood
Delhi resident Lakshmikant Gupta started drawing when he was only eight. “I would look at pictures in school textbooks and feel the urge to reproduce them. Anything that was pleasing—from a house to a face, even the Tazia featured in a chapter on Muharram,” he recalls. He soon moved to reproducing the faces of movie stars from magazines, in many moods—Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Smita Patil, Bruce Lee - and posters of Qurbani and Mr Natwarlal.
The self-taught artist’s Instagram page has been gathering curious visitors. On it features his current obsession—an expression of femininity without dwelling on the face of the woman. The Aabhushan Series, he says, is interesting because whether it is cheap trinkets or expensive jewellery, they contribute to the self-image of a woman, and how she carries herself. The artworks are available for purchase (R5,000 onwards) and can be shipped across the globe.
@Lk_gupta; Instagram
Curated by Prutha Bhosle and Aastha Atray Banan
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