Mpower’s Initiative Highlights: 70% of Senior Citizens View Seeking Mental Health Support as a Sign of Weakness in India
Pune, 21st August 2024: On the occasion of World Senior Citizen’s Day, Mpower, an initiative of the Aditya Birla Education Trust led by Mrs. Neerja Birla, organized mental health therapeutic workshops conducted by psychologist Pooja Lodhi and Sangeeta Patel for senior citizens in Pune and Mumbai. These workshops were held at ‘Vriddha Mitra,’ led by Dr. Benazir Patil in Pune, and ‘The Narayan Chandra Trust,’ headed by Dr. Aniruddha Malpani and the Director Vijay Sarate in Mumbai. The workshops, which integrated art and dance movement therapy, saw participation from 1,000 senior citizens across both cities.
Before Mpower’s intervention, an analysis revealed that 70% of senior citizens viewed seeking mental health support as a sign of weakness, and 80% associated mental health issues with superstitions. In India, mental health is often seen as an age-related problem, with limited efforts to seek support or help, and the stigma surrounding mental health support is particularly strong in this age group. Many senior citizens face conditions such as depression, anxiety, and anger issues—challenges that can significantly impact their quality of life.
Over the past two years, Mpower has worked closely with senior citizens aged 58 to 75 at Vriddha Mitra and The Narayan Chandra Trust, focusing on raising awareness about mental health and offering support through positive mind and body conversations. This sustained engagement has led to a noticeable shift in perceptions. Post-workshop analysis shows that over 50% of participants now express a willingness to seek mental health support, and there has been a 20% decrease in those linking mental health issues to superstitions.
Speaking on the occasion Ms Parveen Shaikh Vice President Operations Mpower said “The mental health of our senior citizens is a critical yet often overlooked aspect of their overall well-being. At Mpower, we’ve seen first-hand how addressing mental health concerns can transform lives, breaking down the stigma and empowering our elders to seek the support they deserve. By integrating mental health care with traditional wellness approaches, we are not just enhancing their quality of life, but also reaffirming their invaluable role in our society.”
Adding further Shruti Padhye, Senior psychologist and manages Mpower Cell, mentioned “With age, our senior citizens face multiple insecurities, from changes in their independence post-retirement to increased reliance on their children. Many activities they once did independently are now curtailed, leading to a sense of loss. In India, old age is often viewed with bias, further enabling discrimination based on age, which deeply impacts the mental health of individuals over 60. Many experience episodes of depression, anxiety, uncertainty, and vulnerability. It is crucial to seek expert help to navigate these challenges, rather than dismissing them as age-related mood swings or stubbornness.”
About Mpower
Mpower, a revolutionary social enterprise that has brought about a paradigm shift in India’s attitude towards mental health by spreading awareness, alleviating stigma, and providing holistic mental health care. Mpower, since its inception 6 years ago has built a strong force of over 200 trained mental health professionals associated with Mpower directly, providing multidisciplinary mental health services impacting over 121 million lives in India. Mpower with its presence in 7 cities including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Pune, and the Mpower Cells in Pilani, Goa, Kalyan, and Hyderabad, is equipped with state of art set-up designed to provide patients and mental health professionals, safe and secure environment for mental health counselling needs. Mpower Operates under 5 verticals namely Movement, Clinical Care, Outreach, Academia, and Mpower 1 on 1 to offer world-class mental health services and stamp out the stigma associated with mental health
• The Movement: through this vertical we strive to bring about a cultural shift and a change in the mind-set of people by addressing misconceptions, fostering positive attitudes, disseminating correct information, and alleviating stigma related to mental illnesses.
• Clinical care: Clinical Care at Mpower is provided through world-class centres of excellence, by extremely skilled and qualified mental health professionals and can be broadly classified into the Centre, the Foundation, and the Cell.
– The Centre – Offers holistic mental health care solutions to children, adolescents, young people and their families.
– Mpower Foundation- Provides quality mental health care at a reasonable rate to underprivileged individuals, by empowering people living with psychosocial difficulties to lead meaningful lives, without social exclusion.
– Mpower Cell – Provides clinical interventions for specific target audiences. Mpower Cell is a small unit on partner organization premises. The cell has associations with NGOs, schools, Hospitals, corporate and government bodies. Association with BITS (Pilani, Goa, and Hyderabad) and Kalyan campus providing counselling and Psychiatric consultations and workshops to the students and Faculty. The aim is to provide clinical care and a mental health-friendly environment on campus.
• The Outreach: This arm is the awareness and capacity-building vertical of Mpower. Our IGNITE Programs aim to reach out to the various communities through our comprehensive programs and workshops for Schools, Colleges, NGOs and Corporate. Our aim is to destigmatize mental health, manage various aspects related to mental health, equip individuals with the skills to prevent mental health issues and encourage help-seeking behaviors.
• Academia- Our academic vertical seeks to equip society with the tools and skills necessary to handle mental health crisis scenarios, to move towards empathy, to build capacity for mental health professionals, and to create a sound ecosystem for those with mental health concerns to not just live, but thrive.
• Helpline – The SBMC and Mpower 1 on 1, along with the Government of Maharashtra is a toll-free, 24*7 multilingual helpline, that helps individuals sail through the tough times by addressing their concerns and offers callers Call 1800-120- 820050 and chat facilities
Mpower has also collaborated with various government agencies and authorities to run impact-driven special projects that aim to create awareness and destigmatize mental health amongst various stakeholders
• Samvedhana- Under this project, we are closely working with 40 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to aid the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP).
• Saksham- Mpower has collaborated with the Mumbai police with the aim to provide counselling services to victims of abuse & perpetrators of crime
• MANN- This project aims to increase mental health awareness, provide support to and to build the capacity of the Central Industrial Security Force
• Oorja- Train teachers in collaboration with MCGM schools to bring about an improvement in the mental well-being of school children. Provide clinical interventions by the establishment of counselling cells in schools for underprivileged children through trained Psychologists. Also build the capacity of the school teachers through the Mental Health e- curriculum Mindsmatter, enabling them to deliver the curriculum in a sustainable manner in the future to support and develop mental health awareness, prevention and management skills amongst students across grade I to X.
The Deccan Post has not independently verified the views, opinions and information in this article and hence does not guarantee the correctness of the facts presented here. Use of individual wisdom is advised while acting in any way, based on the contents of this article.
