About - Let's Walk Together

About Us

Building a bridge between persons living with mental illness and opportunities to earn a livelihood.

That is what we aim to do through this collaborative initiative.

Mental Health has been in the spotlight in recent times In India due to the aftermath of the Covid-19 Pandemic. People are beginning to grasp the extent and depth of this challenge and the sheer enormity of the numbers of persons living with mental illness. However, only a few facets of how mental disorders affect a person his/her family find mention. While the mind-numbing statistics and the symptoms get talked about, peripheral issues get the short shrift. Chronic mental health conditions can create obstacles in a person’s ability to study, work among other important facets of life if the environment to do so is not conducive. Recovery from mental illness needs to be in all key areas of a person’s life for it to be meaningful.

Let’s focus on one specific area of struggle often faced by persons living with mental disorders: earning a livelihood.

An unfavourable or outright hostile workplace environment is a common challenge. HR policies in most organisations aren’t inclusive and there is lack of awareness and sensitisation at workplaces about Mental Health issues. PLMIs (Persons Living with Mental Illnesses) thus find it difficult to hold jobs or find it extremely stressful. Moreover, a toxic workplace is one of the big stressors that can precipitate mental health issues in employees. It is gratifying to see some Organisations have acknowledged their social responsibility and are adopting inclusive policies to empower PLMIs. Much more needs to be done.

Question we need to ask is, how can PLMIs be assimilated into the workforce at a broader level?

The workplace does not exist in isolation and the environment there and attitudes towards those with mental disorders cannot be different from how society as a whole perceives it and reacts to it (or chooses to ignore it). Systemic change is needed, change that can be sustained.

Of Ability, Dis-ability and Dis-empowerment

It is amazing how despite the challenges of dealing with their mental health conditions and despite the workplace atmosphere not being accommodative, we have stellar examples of success stories. The struggle they face need not always be so gruelling and draining.

Can we change the scenario to one that empowers ability?

‘We seek to be the change we want to see around us.’

Ours is a Peer led Initiative, under the umbrella organisation, Mental Health Support Foundation, to bring the right to livelihood and the right to dignity of this vast community under sharp focus.

Those with lived experience of mental illness have a ringside view of the ground situation and the issues that need to be addressed. We have plans for a multi-pronged approach to bring about the desired change and endeavour to empower as many as we can, in collaboration with other organisations with similar objectives.

Our Organisation and this portal aim to be:

A showcase of talent, skills and resilience in face of great odds.
A database of Organisations willing to recruit such talent or assign projects on a freelance basis.
Catalyst of policy level changes that need to be brought in.

The path ahead might be challenging but is worth embarking upon.