Most Mental Health 'Innovation' in India Is Just Noise

I've been building in the mental health industry for 10 years and it is frustrating to see that most of 'innovation' in this industry in India is just noise.

- We are convincing ourselves that awareness campaigns are "impact"
- We are convincing ourselves that wellness days are "treatment"
- We are convincing ourselves that chatbots are "therapy".

But the truth is... almost everything we're doing is surface-level work, dressed as progress.

- A poster in the office about "it's okay to not be okay" is not mental health support.
- A once-a-year workshop on stress management is not clinical intervention.
- A policy that gives you 5 mental health leaves is meaningless if you're too scared to take them because everyone will know.

Yet we celebrate these things like we've solved something.

We haven't.

Real solutions are hard. They cost money. They require commitment, and takes years to build.

The first step is admitting that most of what we're doing isn't working.

And then doing the hard work to actually fix it.