It’s Ok To Talk

India has the world’s largest population of young people ages 10-24 and mental health problems are the leading health concern for this group. Lack of awareness and stigma around mental health prevent young people from getting the care they need. We believe that telling our personal stories about mental health can help create a world where no young people are left behind because of mental health problems. We believe that those with lived experience should drive the conversation on improving mental health.

It's Ok To Talk was launched in 2016 as a story-telling campaign comprising personal mental health narratives of young people. The initiative has since grown to comprise a number of youth focussed mental health programmes including a multimedia web museum of young people’s stories, videos, and psychoeducation  materials (www.mannmela.in), a do-it-yourself toolkit created with youth and aimed at empowering youth to advocate for mental health rights (www.diyouthadvocacy.in), a suicide prevention programme for young people through awareness building, peer support and advocacy training (www.outlive.in) and a research study aimed at supporting youth who are experiencing anxiety or depression to learn new coping strategies and connect with peers through shared stories of help-seeking, recovery and hope (Baatcheet). 

Since 2016, our programmes have reached 8500+ youth directly through 112 community events and workshops; worked with 294 advisors and co-design participants, trained 73 youth advocates in mental health leadership and reached more than 27 million users on social media. In 2019, It’s Ok To Talk was recognized as one of the 10 most prominent international youth mental health campaigns by Facebook and included in a Facebook-led donation campaign.