Care Star Neha Jha (Research Assistant, M.Tech, Data Scientist)

Care FAM is proud to present Neha's personal account. This is not only inspirational but also therapeutic. There are so many in Neha's shoes and are happy and proud that she took this step to open up and encourage others to share their accounts.

Who are you? Given where you are today, what was the most challenging experience you have had so far and how have you changed the situation around? (If you have struggled with mental health, please do share, so that someone like you could be inspired).

Hi! My name is Neha Jha. Currently, I am pursuing a Master of Technology from Delhi, India. Three years ago, I started to experience mental health difficulties for the first time. What I mean by the first time is that three years ago, I first became conscious of my mental illness. But now I believe that this all started long before that.

I think anxiety is a thing that everybody experiences which only differs in degree. Everybody tackles their own situation in different ways. I am the type of person who doesn't share much with anyone, so in my case, some self-help book like 'The Secret' and doing gratitude exercise and mediation helps the most. I would urge people in similar situations to do the same or even just talk to someone if they can. Communication is key here as the satisfaction of venting it all out to someone who is willing to listen and understand is beyond comforting.

Your views matter, what do you feel could be added to make the participants of the project(care family) stronger? #becausewecare

There are so many people struggling to live with mental illness, and most of them are not as self-aware or educated, and even those who are educated find talking about their mental health hard, which is why they mostly bottle up their feelings for so long that it leads to acts such as suicide or other self-destructive behaviour. So creating a self-awareness counselling program may help. Improving one's mental health is a unique journey for everyone, and the best mode of treatment should be such that it caters to the broader audience and their specific needs. If we come together, we can make this happen and I truly believe that this can happen and we can create a society based on positivism and self-awareness.

Would you recommend the project to others?

Yes, I would.