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Talking about mental health issues
185 Plays1 year ago
On this episode we are talking with Vasundhara Chaudhary, the founder of Inspire Dose. Inspire Dose is a student youth led that is spreading awareness about mental health issues and providing free self care journal pages. This episode is all about mental health issues.
You can connect with Inspire Dose and Vasundhara at https://lnkfi.re/inspire-dose
Follow GenZers to rise! https://go.changemakerz.org/follow
Episode's page https://podcast.changemakerz.org/inspire-dose
Access exclusive content and inspiring quotes on the ChangemakerZ app at https://app.changemakerz.org
Produced by Vasilis Skarleas
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Transcript
Introduction to Hosts & Changemaker-Z
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello everyone, I'm Kennedy. And I'm Vassilis. We run Changemaker-Z, a student-run initiative that aims to empower, educate, and connect Gen Zers interested in entrepreneurship. We interview teenagers with impactful projects and create resources to help you change the world. If they can't do it, so can he.
00:00:23
Speaker
On this podcast, we discuss the logistics of creating different types of projects with Jin Ziers who have already done it. We will leave our social media and website information in the description.
New Season of Dancer's Rise Podcast
00:00:47
Speaker
Hello everyone! Welcome to another episode of the Dancer's Rise podcast. You may have noticed that Season 4 has a greater number of episodes than the previous ones. And there is a good reason for that. We're planning to expand the type of episodes by sharing short clips from the best recordings every week. And releasing a new episode every two weeks. But for now, let's dive into today's episode.
Interview with Visanhara Chhadra
00:01:15
Speaker
With us in the studio today is Visanhara Chhadra from India. Visanhara is 17 years old and she's the founder of Inspire Dose, a student-led organization that is spreading awareness about mental health issues and providing free self-care journal pages. Today, we are gonna be hearing all about Inspire Dose and diving deep into some mental health issues. Visanhara, welcome to show. So nice to meet you.
00:01:43
Speaker
It's a pleasure to be here on this show. Yes, thank you so much for joining us. Before we get into the inside dose logistics, would you like to share with us what inspired you to start your journey as a mental health advocate, you know, the story behind an inspired dose?
00:02:01
Speaker
From a young age, I had been inclined towards mental health. When I used to talk to people about mental health, they ignored the conversation and did give in the importance it deserved. This made me realize the stigma attached with mental health.
00:02:17
Speaker
I had faced anxiety issues at different stages of my life and during the lockdown my anxiety too was so intense that I had to reach out to professionals for support. I joined therapy sessions and spirituality was the one factor which helped me to cope up.
00:02:35
Speaker
At that point, I realized how millions of people are in a much worse state than I was in and have no support. This made me determined to do something in this field and I started in spiders. That's amazing.
Stigma of Mental Health in India
00:02:55
Speaker
How was mental health treated in your family? Was it validated or did they not really take it seriously? I know you talked about there's a lot of stigma.
00:03:04
Speaker
It was actually validated like my parents were supportive, but I sort of have some hesitation in telling them that I'm facing anxiety because I think it was a long story that I have to make them understand and I actually didn't want to do that. So I didn't actually tell them about my mental health issues.
00:03:28
Speaker
But compared to the society around me, my parents are still well aware of this fact and they are supportive. But yeah, the state of mental health, like people are not accepting it in India especially. So yeah, there's a lot of stigma attached to it.
00:03:45
Speaker
Well, I actually, in high school, I'm 19 now, guys, if you don't know, I was part of an organization that's a little bit similar to yours. It's called Bring Change to Mine. And we had the same goal. It was just to de-stigmatize mental health, and it was just a group you can go to and talk about it. And I just, that actually, I went because my friends were going, but it actually made me realize,
00:04:13
Speaker
Cause I never thought, I don't know if you ever felt this way, but for some reason I thought therapy was for people who were like crazy. And I was like, no, like I make it sad sometimes, but I'm not like that like crazy or whatever, which is not even a good term to use anymore to go to therapy or anything like that. But it helped me, uh, open up a little bit and I never,
00:04:34
Speaker
I started going to BetterHelp this year and I just never told my family. I think my mom saw it on my bank statement and she was like, what's this? But yeah, at least you were, have like a good enough relationship to kind of talk to your parents about your anxiety. Personally, I like what you said, Kennedy, and what's with Hara as well. Having people talking, like serving, you know, maybe same problems.
00:05:02
Speaker
They could help you to visualize things differently and in the end trying to solve problems or to be supported from those people. I was curious, how did you come up with this interesting name for your organization?
00:05:19
Speaker
I would actually like to thank my mom for suggesting the name Inspire Dose. When I told her that I want to start an initiative for the cause of mental health back in 2020, she came to me and said that the name Inspire Dose is something that you should keep up for the organization. And I, without giving a second thought, as my mother always has been my guiding force, named the initiative Inspire Dose.
00:05:47
Speaker
So talking a little bit more about your Inspire Dose and the logistics of it. In the beginning, was this your original intention for Inspire Dose? Like how did it start off? Was it just like an idea that you had and now it's turned into a nice website and Instagram or what? Was this always the plan?
Inspire Dose's Growth & Team Selection
00:06:09
Speaker
Yeah, actually, initially I just started up with posting stuffs on Instagram. It used to be the motivational stuffs every day. We used to put some insights or formations related to mental health.
00:06:23
Speaker
And then I actually realized that I can grow it up and make more impact through it. And I actually added on joint team members from various parts. My juniors joined in and we started as a platform where we shared
00:06:41
Speaker
journal sheets and free self-care items for people as well as then we started off with the counseling services and this actually grew up from a small idea to a bigger platform so it all just went off as the time passed.
00:06:57
Speaker
I really love your initiative. You were so organized since the beginning and it's something that we cannot say from many initiatives. Even when Changemakers had started and I wasn't from the first person who joined the team, I really admire Vasudhara that you were so organized in this beginning.
00:07:20
Speaker
Moving on to the next question, we have seen on your resources that you are offering a free anxiety test. So I get into that on your website, this Google form. And my question was, what exactly is that and how can it help us? We're going to receive a feedback, how does this work?
00:07:41
Speaker
It's basically a questionnaire where you are asked questions and you need to introspect and think about your thoughts and emotions. This way you actually get time and opportunity to have a look at your mental health and understand yourself. Examples of the question include, how often have you been bothered by being so restless that it is hard to sit still over the last two weeks?
00:08:07
Speaker
After submitting it, our team connects with you, giving insights about your responses and giving you few tips to improve your present mental state. Actually, anyone, even the one who feels he or she is mentally not fit or is mentally fit can attempt to understand more about their thought process.
00:08:29
Speaker
Okay, I've seen like a lot of similar quizzes out there. So it'll just like kind of give you a range. So is it just you just have the anxiety resource? There's not any other like quiz questioners, maybe like regarding depression or anything like that.
00:08:47
Speaker
Yeah, we actually started with the anxiety test and currently are actually working on it because we actually take insights from professionals so that there are no mistakes or something wrong goes. So it actually takes a little longer process to connect with the professionals like the counselors and the psychiatrist and get the copies from them and then make it up level on our website. So we are actually planning
00:09:14
Speaker
for some new resources and you guys can stay tuned for it as well. We will definitely share all the resources in the link description so that everyone can check out both the anxiety test and the page where you can find all the new things coming up for an inspiring dose.
00:09:34
Speaker
So we have seen that you are like your team members are like doing different stuff. You have, you know, you are the founder, you have people doing the content part and things like that. How did you find people to work on your team? So when I was looking for my team members, I actually looked for people who actually resonated with the cause of mental health, who sort of had connection with it and the work I was offering them, they were actually passionate about it.
00:10:04
Speaker
So when I first looked for the website designer, so she actually was entrusted into website designing and she was actually resonating with the cause of mental health. So whenever I used to choose my team members, I wanted them to be a person who would passionate about their work because only then
00:10:28
Speaker
It is their passion that is their driving force and we can't actually force them to work. I just needed team members who resonated with the cause of mental health and were passionate with their work. This helped me to form a team that is actually stronger and I don't actually have to get back to them. They immediately come up with these stuff that I have offered them to do and they all do it with a happy feeling and they're not actually forced or burdened with it.
00:10:58
Speaker
Okay, so you're just, no, that's so true because you don't have time to be pressuring people to get their work done and whatnot. You have to have self-motivated individuals. So I guess that kind of makes sense why it's an all-girl team.
00:11:15
Speaker
Just kidding, just kidding. Was it your intention to have an all girls team or is that just how it kind of panned out? No, I actually sort of from the starting had the mindset that I look for people who resonated with the cause because you know people don't actually work until and unless they resonate with the cause, this is what I feel.
00:11:38
Speaker
and even in my life I actually took up the projects or did work that resonated with me because it's only then when like you work with the full potential and with the full passion actually.
00:11:52
Speaker
That's true and that's been true for me in my work because especially like something you know that's not school where there's not an exact due date you don't have to you're not under that pressure to get it done unless you want to you know.
00:12:09
Speaker
because there's no due date looming over you to get your projects going.
Resources & Learning for Mental Health
00:12:14
Speaker
But for Inspired Dose, one of the things that you offer on your website is the free shop and it's like all these like free printable things that you can do and work on. Did you come up with like all the images by yourself and all the different things in the free shop?
00:12:35
Speaker
Yeah, actually we have a team of graphic designing by Design Digital.
00:12:41
Speaker
And I came up with this idea before when I was recovering from anxiety. I was told that journaling helps you to keep yourself fit. And when I started it, I actually felt that journaling every day, even for 10 to 15 minutes, can do wonders. It doesn't have to be a perfect journaling like our journals or bullet journals. You just don't need to buy the best journals in the market. It's just that you need to have a notebook and you just write out everything you have in your mind.
00:13:11
Speaker
things that are bothering you, your emotions, your to-do list, plans, etc. On our free shop, our graphic designers have designed journal sheets for different purposes, like gratitude journals, self-q journal, etc. You just need to visit our website, download the journal, get them printed, and start your journey of journaling, which will for sure have a positive impact on your mental health.
00:13:36
Speaker
Soon we'll be including more resources like motivational posters and templates there. Thank you so much for sharing that. I also checked out all these resources and I find this quite interesting. The fact that you have a dedicated graphics designing team only for that purpose is also important. This shows the importance of what you're doing and this is so amazing.
00:14:01
Speaker
Your YouTube channel features some insights and key takeaways from iconic self-locked books, such as the subtle art of not giving, and F by Mark Manson, and Atomic Habits by James Clear. Have you implemented anything you learned from the books into your own life?
00:14:21
Speaker
Actually, I love reading books, especially from the genre of self-help. So I have a lot of books on my shelf related to this. So the book by Mark Manson, that is The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F. It is actually a very great book and it's not like the other self-help books. It actually talks that what exactly the truth is, like brutal truth and there are no imaginations. It actually talks that
00:14:52
Speaker
You don't have to give attention to each and everything out there. You don't have to give an F about everything in your life. You just need to focus on the things that actually matter because only then you can have your mental health and mental peace.
00:15:08
Speaker
And Atomic Habits is another very great book. It is actually a step-by-step guide to build great habits, whether it be exercising, journaling on any good habit you want to make part of your relationship with you. So I would suggest that self-help books are something that you should keep reading throughout your life because they actually give you
00:15:33
Speaker
various insights about the changes you can bring in your life and you know they actually one way or the other help you to keep yourself mentally fit so I would even suggest those who don't have the habit of reading and don't actually want to start with reading fiction books or novels they should at least start with reading one page of a self-help book every day and this can actually help them developing the habit of
00:16:00
Speaker
reading and I would suggest them to start with the book of atomic habits because that will actually help them to make reading their habit. Yes, I um so I'm not a reader and I'll just say this. I am not a reader as well but here's the thing I like if don't let it stop you don't be like uh I need to start my reading habit and I'm not going to start I'm going to actually read no dude just get the audiobook if you
00:16:32
Speaker
just do the audiobook and it's been even and even because the audiobook there's a version I literally listened to it on YouTube for free so if you're like start with an audiobook if you want to start you're reading habit because I still think it's valuable I learned a lot from atomic habits so yeah it's a really that's a really good book we're the same page here Kennedy yeah same issue
00:16:57
Speaker
Maybe for me it says start listening to a podcast and transition to an audio book and then maybe to a real book.
00:17:05
Speaker
Maybe. That's for me. I don't know if that works for everyone. I don't know. People always talk about like reading books kind of like it's or maybe people see audiobooks is less than or a little bit than reading books, but I don't really see it that way because it's either I'm listening to it or I'm just not reading it at all. So most of the time. But yeah, yeah, there's some people that they want, you know, to feel the pages turning.
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah. Other people have also replaced that with digital books. But in every case, I think that you're taking part of knowledge and you're processing that into your mind so that you can be, you know, change your habits, become a better person, learn something here.
School Projects & Sustainable Development
00:17:53
Speaker
Also, on your website, you are mentioning a smart city model. What is your smart city model for you?
00:18:02
Speaker
When I was in my school, I was part of the Eco Club and I represented my school team and won the Green Champion Award by Scandier Electric Cynthia for the smart city model that I made. We basically focused on creating a smart city that was focusing on sustainable development and not on development at the cost of environment.
00:18:24
Speaker
by bringing into environment-friendly alternatives. If I talk in detail, we focus on ideas like use of wind energy with the help of windmills for energy production, solar energy to light up streetlights, waste management using landfills, recycling plastics and using them to make roads, rainwater harvesting systems to be part of each locality,
00:18:51
Speaker
dustpans to be present at every corner of the city with three different colors to segregate waste, using electric CNG vehicles for public transport and carpooling as the alternative, having green zones in locality and more such ideas were included,
00:19:11
Speaker
And I'm really happy to know that some of these initiatives have been actually started in India and we have in our metropolitan cities like Bangalore, roads being developed with the help of plastics as well.
00:19:27
Speaker
This is huge, thank you so much for serving this insight. We're from different countries, I'm from Greece, living in France, Canada is from the United States, living in the United States, so sometimes we are connected with so many people through internet, we can't really know the habits of a country, how they are going against an international problem.
00:19:51
Speaker
Even if it's called environmental problem or it's called, I don't know, hunger problem, whatever.
Therapy Junction & Resource Distribution
00:19:58
Speaker
I want to know from one of our final questions with you today, do you have any upcoming projects for Inspire Dose? We recently made an announcement on the occasion of World Mental Health Day that was celebrated on 10th October.
00:20:14
Speaker
InspireDo's, along with two other organizations, Ammanathwa, Nidwarkana and YourSpineFree, will be launching a platform named Therapy Junction. It's your one-stop-shop for pro bono therapy sessions. This platform is tailor-made for Gen Z who struggles to access mental health support because they cannot afford it.
00:20:37
Speaker
and we actually want to bridge the gap. InspireDos was actually already providing free counseling specials, but we wanted to take this initiative to next level, so we collaborated with two other like-minded organizations to bring in more professionals to volunteer and make a bigger impact.
00:20:57
Speaker
We are also looking out to launch the free shop project in offline mode and distribute those printouts in schools, colleges and offices so that people don't actually have to download them and get them printed and they get it easily in the printed version.
00:21:16
Speaker
We are wishing you all the best and we hope that you will achieve all your goals. I really like the idea of having the offline free serve project out there to the world and I hope that you have all the fun resources that you need so that you can achieve that. So well, this is the end of the episode. Thanks everyone for joining today and reading the end. We would love to hear your point of view in the review below.
00:21:42
Speaker
Thank you so much for being with us today on Sitkara. Thank you for having me on the platform. It was great connecting with both of you. Thank you. So, new episodes are coming out every single week or you can find the previous ones every streaming platform via the Tanes Magazine album as well. It's everywhere. You can just type and just write and it's up onto your mobile phone computer. But until next time, do not forget to Tanes the World. Bye!
00:22:23
Speaker
Thank you guys for listening. We hope you enjoyed the conversation. We had such a great time.
Episode Conclusion & Social Media
00:22:28
Speaker
Make sure to leave us a review. If you want more Changemakers content, you can follow us on Instagram at ginsears2rise and on Facebook at changemakersz.