You are not alone - Human is near you

Key Initiatives 2025 -26

India_Human_ – Multimedia Campaign

In regional language decoding what’s the mental health and when you need to help your

family member / yourself. Its getting amazing response from local youth who are left

behind to get the right knowledge as all advocacy are in the English language.

Insta Id: India_Human_

Digital Relationship Counselling Toolkit

Content, storytelling, and advisory sessions that blend emotional support with social

reality.

In light of growing digital misinformation and emotional isolation, our new relationship

segment will provide culturally-sensitive, youth-friendly resources around love,

partnership, consent, and emotional negotiation — areas rarely addressed openly,

especially for young women. Insta Id: Daraa_patel

Partnership with AI Platform "Grace"

 Co-create digital tools that allow users to journal emotions, receive reflective prompts,

and engage in self-guided emotional exploration. Here one can talk to the AI mentor

through audio / video / text and its available in Hindi language as well. First 11 chats are

free but we want more liberty.

 Explore the intersection of AI, ethics, and emotional justice.

Digital Democracy & Emotional Literacy Lab

 Interactive storytelling spaces where youth can explore how politics, media, and identity

intersect with personal wellbeing.

Plan to write 2-3 research based articles on the How Digital hate affects the mental health

of humans. Mostly on Youth ki awaz and my personal blog.

Our Beginning: From Silence to a Spark

In 2018, when mental health was still something people whispered about—or hid entirely—I was silently struggling. For eight years, I drifted through life without knowing what was happening to me. I lost my direction, my dreams, even the simple desire to look good. Those eight years, the golden years of my life, passed me by in a haze of confusion and self-neglect.

Eventually, I found the right doctor—a psychiatrist—and began the slow process of recovery. That’s when I realized I wasn’t alone. There were many like me, suffering in silence, afraid to speak, unsure where to go.

I anonymously shared my experience on social media with a simple message:

“You are not alone – Human is near you.”

Within just 30 minutes, I received over 250 heartfelt responses. That’s when I knew: this was not just my story. This was a movement waiting to happen.

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Our Purpose: Human Before Labels

We believe healing doesn't always start with clinical terms like “depression” or “mental health.” It begins with human connection. A problem shared is a problem half-solved. Our aim was never to diagnose—but to listen, to hold space, and to act when needed.

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The Reality in India

India, home to 18% of the world’s population, is facing a mental health crisis:

• Mental illnesses are the second leading cause of years lived with disability (YLDs).

• Suicide is the third leading cause of death in many Indian states.

• Over 15% of adults need mental health support.

• Yet, the treatment gap is as high as 70–92%.

But for many—especially women and youth—the gap isn’t just medical. It’s social, financial, and cultural.

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The Journey: Building from the Ground Up

I remember clearly the first woman who reached out to us. Her husband had abandoned her, and her own parents refused to take her back. She had no home, no support, no choices—only pain. She traveled across the country from the North East to Gujarat, exhausted and broken, to attend our very first meeting. There, she cried her heart out.

That day, she found not only emotional support, but help with therapy, a rented home, job opportunities, and a lawyer to begin the fight for her daughter’s custody.

That wasn’t just her turning point—it was ours.

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Case Studies: Real People. Real Change.

• A woman in her 20s with chronic depression was taken to a “Bhuva ji” who attempted to molest her. Her family believed she was possessed. Today, after our intervention, she is back to work—and to life.

• A mother of two, emotionally abandoned by her husband for seeking psychiatric help, is now rebuilding her career with our support.

• A young man, once on the brink of suicide, is now counselling others, transforming his pain into purpose.

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Why Women Are Still Left Behind

Today, in 2025, educated people are finally speaking about mental health—but women are still expected to stay silent.

Unmarried women struggle in homes that resist psychiatric help. Married women often depend on in-laws for decisions—and “being depressed” is still seen as a luxury, not a right. Many have no home of their own to return to. Those with brothers are rarely welcomed back to their parents’ house. Most cannot afford legal help.

When a woman’s pain doesn’t fit a social script, she is left alone to suffer.

I have read a suicide note of a highly educated, working woman that I am fed up. Meditation cant do anything. I need help , I need to come out of forced marriage and indirect dowry. I do not want to be home slave and salary provider at the same time.

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Beyond Awareness: Bridging Gaps

“You Are Not Alone – Human is Near You” has grown beyond mental health awareness. It is now a bridge—between trauma and recovery, between injustice and advocacy.

We now provide:

• Psychiatric and counselling support

• Job, housing, and legal aid

• Emotional safety and social validation

• New in 2025: Relationship & Marriage Counselling to help young people navigate complex social and emotional challenges

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Where Society Still Fails

Two headlines inspire and disturb us:

• 📰 Girls Top CBSE Results

• 📰 Only 32% of Women Are in the Workforce

What happens between these two headlines? What dreams die? What support is missing?

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Hate & Misogyny: The Modern Epidemic

Our movement also speaks out against the harmful narratives around mental health:

• Online misogyny that silences women

(Read: When Hate Becomes Viral)

• Male suicide statistics being twisted to attack women

(Read: Twisting Tragedy)

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Achievement:

Goldin Global Fellow, 2025

Earned Peace Ambassador title from Institute of Economy and Peace, Sydney

Accepted at European Academy of Diplomacy

What Makes Us Different

We act before people become “patients.”

We believe in listening before labelling.

We speak in Gujarati, in the local dialect, in the language of the heart.

We are human first.

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Where We Go From Here

• Expand our reach to rural and regional populations

• Train emotional listeners and peer supporters

• Support women legally and financially

• Create safe, inclusive spaces for healing—online and offline

• Advocate for change where policy and people intersect

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Join Us

We are not an institution. We are a living, breathing community.

📲 Instagram: @daraa_patel and @India_Human_

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/You-are-not-alone-Human-is-near-you/100068004775394/?locale=ms_MY

🫶 In Gujarati, in Hindi, in English, in action.

Because you are not alone.

Human is near you.