I moved to New York in my early twenties to pursue a masters degree in psychology at Columbia University. With a BA in psychology and big dreams of working in the field of global mental health and offering mental illness support to people, I wasn’t prepared for what life had in store for me. When I moved, I thought that being a first world country people’s lives would be free from the kind of daily stressors we had in India; I envisioned fancy houses, big cars, and comfortable lifestyles throughout. That illusion was shattered when during my MA I started working in the Bronx with women who had been in jail and were victims of severe abuse and neglect. A few miles north of the glitz and glamour of New York City was a place where people lived without any resources, dreams or hope. This place was many worlds away! It’s hard to imagine if one hasn’t been there, as one almost never sees these images in films or TV. Their lives were a constant struggle to survive, something that I, at least, did not associate with the developed world. Moved by this, I went on to pursue a doctorate in psychology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, and focused my doctoral dissertation on survivors of trauma, specifically the Rwandan genocide.
The Beginnings
While things for women in the Bronx were tough, I saw even further extremes of human suffering when I worked with Rwandan survivors of the genocide, who had subsequently lived as refugees. I travelled to Rwanda and met with several organisations that worked with female survivors of the genocide, getting a chance to interact with these highly traumatised, yet exceptionally strong and resilient women. Their stories were heart breaking and their need for support was immense. I wanted to give them my all, but my all was limited. I was one person. When I returned to the US, I was surrounded by a strange feeling of inadequacy. I wanted to do more. But how? It was also difficult to cope with the impact of hearing such horror stories of human suffering. I tried to escape, but that didn’t work. Instead of visiting India during vacations, my husband and I started backpacking around Central and South America and tried to learn more about people at the grassroots. To unwind, we became scuba divers, but that wasn’t enough. However, the more I travelled and interacted with people, the more it became salient that suffering is pervasive and emotional and mental health are ignored in most parts of the world. Again, the question remained: What could I do? Where could I go?
I carried the disquiet inside me while I completed a six-month certificate programme at Harvard University on refugee trauma in an attempt to find a foothold. During this time, I started sharing my desire to be able to provide mental health support to as many people as possible, especially those who have no direct access to mental or emotional healthcare, with my peers. To my joy, I found resonance in the people around me.
The wayForward Journey: Coming back home
One thing was clear. If we were to reach out to the masses, technology would have to be our go-to solution. Smartphones and computers are ubiquitous in today’s world. Keeping that in mind, I joined hands with experts in the field of psychology, such as Dr. Lata McGinn, (a global authority on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to create a structured programme based directly on the scientific techniques of CBT, which could be accessed through a smartphone or a computer. The beauty of this programme was that any individual could use it independently and get benefits similar to that of a personal therapy session. Stan Miroshnikov, a friend from Columbia University, took the lead in developing the algorithm that would bring the application to life. We called it wayForward!
The programme gained further momentum after my husband, Ritvik Singh, decided to quit his job on Wall Street to join my mission. The team was becoming stronger and the dream more real. We pulled in more experts as we did our preliminary research. We launched the pilot version of wayForward in New York in January 2015 and found immediate takers at universities such as Rutgers, Vassar and Columbia, as well as fortune 500 companies, such as Deutsche Bank and Citibank. We were obviously elated at the response. Plus, our research with users of the wayForward app in the US revealed that more than 80% cases showed improvement in just 3 weeks. The study also highlighted that most often problems such as overeating, sleep disturbances and lifestyle diseases, were consequences of mental and emotional health issues.
Based on feedback, we decided to add an additional component to the programme, something we like to call the “coach-in-your-pocket” option. We created an additional chat module where users could interact with a personal coach via text-chat anytime, anywhere, and discuss their problems. Soon our small team expanded to a group of 25, with coaches, technology developers and advisors joining the team.
When I shared my story with family and friends back in India, they pointed out the obvious – with its massive population and only a handful of mental health experts, India needed wayForward.
Here I was fortunate enough to meet Angelene Kaur, one of the first members of our India team. She seamlessly manages our entire Coach Division and has been instrumental in our growth. With her years of experience in multiple domains including creative writing and clinical psychology, and passion to help others, Angelene brings to the table a rare combination of creativity, problem-solving, and clinical knowledge.
The Launch: Our programme at a glance
Thus began the journey back home. We launched in New Delhi last month with an HR Conclave held in collaboration with Fortis Healthcare. We plan to have about 50 coaches on board in India by next month.
The wayForward programme is divided into two parts. The first is a self-use Wellness app that comprises bite-sized modules based on CBT and Mindfulness techniques. These modules teach users skills to manage stress, anxiety and various other emotional and mental health issues through exercises and practice sessions based on real-life examples. Additionally, the app is bundled with relaxation exercises and helpful tools, such as a thought recorder and a worry too, which users can access anytime, anywhere. The second part is the Coach app, which allows user to connect with a dedicated coach who helps them set and achieve their personal goals, in addition to helping them work through the Wellness app. The coach is available via text chat and phone calls.
The programme covers a variety of domains, such as work stress, relationship issues, exam anxiety, interview jitters and family problems, to name a few. We are constantly adding to the programme and we plan to introduce a module on post-partum stress and depression soon as part of our Women’s Health Initiative, which marks our next stage.
The future
India is still relatively resistant to the concept of mental illness support so a large part of our work here to spread awareness. Thankfully, stress and anxiety are terms that at least crop up in conversation now. Our initial efforts have brought in a positive response and I hope that with time, we are able to overcome the stigma in the minds of our users and encourage them seek out mental and emotional support without hesitation.
Finding balance
I chose psychology in college to combine my so-called “mind and heart”, and figure out what moves people. I was always an active kid. While good at school; my mother encouraged me to have at least one dedicated hobby. I trained in Bharatnatyam dance for 15 years. This helped me balance my studies and gain positive energy as the stressors of school and teenage life mounted. As an adult, I have found this balance in creating ceramics, as well as running. While working in emotionally and physically strenuous settings, having these outside passions kept things in perspective and helped me manage the intense emotions felt while working with severely ill people.
At the moment, I continue to work as an adjunct (part-time) Associate Research Scientist at the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University (New York) and Ritvik and I shuttle between New York and Gurgaon every other month. We are planning to move to India and spend majority of our time here starting this October. While in Delhi, our 8-month old son accompanies us to the Gurgaon office, which is luckily manned by a wonderful team while we are away. A team that is cohesive and cheerful despite the everyday issues of Internet malfunction and a cramped start-up office space. I guess, in our own small ways, we’re all trying to spread some happiness.