ONE OF Neerja Birla’s maiden initiatives when she set up her mental health foundation, MPower, was to set up counselling facilities/mental health helpline for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) workers during Covid-19. Since the identity of the people was kept anonymous, the helpline got almost over 1,000 calls per day.
It’s four years since the first lockdown and Birla’s MPower Foundation has not just made inroads into villages of Maharashtra, but has also started working with other government organisations such as the Maharashtra Railway Protection Force and the Central Industrial Security Force. “We have so far counselled 1,200 railway personnel. We are offering helpline services as well as individual counselling,” says Birla, founder and chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust. She is especially happy that the request to attend to mental health issues is coming from the top leadership. “The real movement will happen only when leaders realise the need for mental health intervention. It has to be a top- down approach,” says Birla. — Ajita Shashidhar