To the bright young Indian, making it into an IIT is tantamount to reaching the very pinnacle of worldly achievement. Richa Singh was among these, a student at IIT Guwahati with a promising career ahead of her, when she learned how deceptive appearances can be. Tragedy struck - in her hostel room, to be precise, when her college roommate, unable to take the pressures of life at an IIT, committed suicide. Singh was shell-shocked, of course, but went on to complete her degree and receive a placement at DE Shaw India where she was promised a comfortable salary.
Still, she couldn't shake off the memory of her friend's untimely death. Instead of following through on her corporate aspirations, she took a detour and decided to put her skills to full use in such a way that she would make a positive impact on other people's lives. Her friend, she realised, had nobody to turn to in her time of dire need and this was where the problem lay. A little bit of support and solidarity could have saved the life of a human being. "After that experience, I dug a little deeper and found that it was the anxiety of the upcoming placements that had pushed her to this. That was the kind of pressure she was facing," said Singh, who is now the founder of wwwyourdost.com, an online emotional wellness platform.
"High expectations from friends and family and the growing need for independence in this culture of nuclear families can leave one feeling isolated. Also, people aren't willing to discuss mental health. There's a certain stigma still attached to it," she explained.
Singh and her friend Puneet Manuja co-founded a startup they called yourdost.com, back in December 2014. Anonymity was at the crux of it - as it should be. In this case, visitors aren't even required to provide their real names. Either way, the platform connects the user to a qualified team of psychologists, life coaches, counselors and experts who are included in the team only after a stringent series of interviews, case study tests, four levels of training and supervision that lasts two weeks. "We are very stringent about who we hire. After all, though having a degree is a must, one cannot be good just because of it. Although 80% of our counselors and coaches are trained professionals who have already been working on the field we still put them through tests to be absolutely sure," she explains.
The platform that started with just a handful of people has about 600 experts on board who conduct over a 1000 sessions every day. The real satisfaction comes from the positive changes they bring about in the lives of the people with whom they work, Singh adds. "India has 1.2 billion people and we have only reached out to a very small fraction of these, but it's a win if you can make a positive difference to even one life. That's what matters to us and keeps us going."
Singh tells the story of a nursing student who almost gave up her education. "I remember this one case recently. She was a 21-year old based in Hyderabad who was 25 days away from completing her vocational degree in nursing. Her father was the only bread winner to their family of five and their monthly income was below Rs 10,000. So when he fell critically ill, she almost gave up on her course to become a household helper to make ends meet at home, which would have been a mistake in the long run. One can imagine the pressure, confusion, grief, hopelessness and stress she was undergoing. When she reached out to us, the team stood beside her and she actually continued her training. She now works at a major hospital in Bengaluru and is a role model in her community, "she explains.
While the year saw more interactions than the previous one, what she really aspires to do is take the interaction a step further. "We are sitting on a goldmine of data. I would like us to enable technology to identify more cases and use that data to effectively reach out to people, instead of waiting for them to call us. We could make it a two-way process. We want to reach out to as many people as we can and we will, hopefully. There's still a long way to go."
