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Having Trouble? Seek Help For Your Life From ‘One Life’!





Having Trouble? Seek Help For Your Life From ‘One Life’!

You only have one life and you need to value it. However, if you are struggling with thoughts otherwise, you can also seek help from ‘One Life’! It was in 2019 that Bhubaneswar-based Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner and Counselor Summon Patra and Zahid Akhtar who is also a Counselor and Training and Development professional came together to build an organization that could support people battling with mental health issues and work towards suicide prevention. One Life was born on October 10 last year on the occasion of World Mental Health Day and since then it has been reaching out, helping and counselling people in need of emotional support.

With an ambitious vision to decrease India’s suicide rate by 10% in 10 years, the duo Summon and Zahid has already assembled a team of 15 counsellors, 8 psychologists, 4 psychiatrists based in Bhubaneswar and life coaches and motivational speakers from across the country to form One Life. Actor Akash Dasnayak is also one of the mentors of One Life.

“As we live in an increasingly connected world, we don’t get to spend a lot of time with ourselves or with the people around us. The impact of media and information in various forms on our lives has evolved from entertainment to a form of psychosocial narcissistic behaviour which has resulted in various forms of mental imbalance,” said Summon who has over six years of experience in NLP and five years of experience in Counseling.

Speaking about his partnership with Zahid, he said, “I have known Zahid for the last five years. In April 2019, we thought of starting something related to suicide prevention. I read an article about suicides in India. It is a very crucial and sensitive topic and nobody is talking about it. We started doing our research and decided to come up with an initiative to prevent suicides and address mental health issues. That’s how ‘One Life’ was launched. We believe it’s just one life and people must live it happily.”

Apart from conducting talks and seminars, One Life is also into therapy and counselling. Summon and Zahid have tied up with different media platforms apart from social media to reach out to people. Besides, they have connected with people from different domains like entertainment, education, corporate, politics and administration to spread awareness about mental health.

Summon feels people need to open up about certain topics in India and start talking about them in order to address the issues. “In India, there are two topics that are stigmatised the most and they are mental health and sex. We need to talk about these subjects the most,” he said.

There are different ways in which one can recognise shifts in people’s behavioural patterns which indicate the existence of mental health problems. There is a difference between changing behaviour and change in mood. “When we are under pressure related to work, family or others, one can see the tension on the face but the behaviour remains almost the same as any normal individual. But when drastic behavioural changes occur, one might not show physical symptoms like looking tense but will avoid day-to-day responsibilities. One’s mind will be preoccupied which hampers everyday life and activities,” he informed.

Mental health problems might seem simple for an outsider but for those who deal with them every day find it tough to handle because of peer pressure, societal expectations and a biased society that does not forgive failures.

Explaining the various kinds of pressure that the mind experiences, Summon explained, “There are three distinct things that our mind goes through. They are stress or tension, depression and anxiety. Stress and depression occur mostly when one overthinks about past events and decisions whereas anxiety occurs when one thinks too much about the future and it also results in heart attacks sometimes. A healthy state of mind is being in the present.”

According to different studies, 60-70 % of mental health cases can be solved through counselling while 10-15 % of cases need the intervention of a clinical psychologist and the rest need attention by a psychiatrist. This is where One Life intervenes; it tries to understand your state and condition and accordingly refer you to an appropriate solution with their extensive team of professional networks.

Depression is a clinical problem which happens over an extended period of time. People usually fail to differentiate between sadness and depression. Today’s youngsters have overhyped the word depression. Posting things on social media, trying to follow the trend so that they remain relevant in their virtual circles is a worrying trend. The so-called influencers with some thousand followers often create a dangerous situation by spreading misinformation and creating fake peer pressure without their knowing.

“People don’t commit suicide immediately when they go through a problem. There are various phases through which one goes to take the extreme step. These are depression, deep depression, ideation for suicide and attempt to suicide,” explained Summon.

According to the Mental Health Act of 2017, committing suicide is a crime. It states that mental healthcare should be provided to those with mental illness and should not be discriminated against or harassed. “Every 40 seconds, somebody somewhere in the world is committing suicide. India is considered one of the most depressed countries in the world by WHO. India has more than eight crores mental health patients and the number is increasing fast. According to a World Bank report, the world is losing one trillion dollars every year just because of mental illness and by 2030, India alone might lose trillion dollars a year because of this. That is why we at One Life are providing appropriate interventions to slow down this worrying trend,” said Summon.

He further informed, “We are in talks with the Health Department and the Health Secretary for some time now. When the COVID 19 pandemic broke out, One Life was providing mental health services for free and we had received more than 2000 calls. This was a small intervention on our part.”

The biggest reasons behind mental health issues with today’s teenagers are addicted to sex and drugs. Summon said the education system needs a major overhaul. The basics of psychology and mental health need to be introduced to children and teenagers. “We at One Life are trying to explain to people why mental health education is important and how it will help children, teenagers and young adults in leading a healthy life,” he added.

On a similar note, Zahid, with 14 years of experience in Training and Development and Counselling, told MCL how he started connecting with people and gave free seminars in schools, colleges and corporates across Bhubaneswar in 2019. “Even during this pandemic, while the number of mental health cases is increasing steadily, the major threat I believe is to children who don’t know how to handle stress. Because of staying inside the house for a prolonged period of time and not being able to meet friends, they are becoming irritated and agitated. We recently started a program called ‘Mental Health Ambassador’ for children and young adults in schools and colleges,” he said.

“We identify children to become ambassadors for One Life and raise awareness among their peers. We train them and give them the responsibility to report any issues arising within their environment. They also have to sensitise people at regular intervals. This makes the children more aware of mental health and at the same time, they feel more confident about themselves,” Zahid said.

At One Life, a lot of cases come from people who are in the suicide ideation and deep depression phases. The biggest groups of suicide in India are farmers and students. Suicidal tendencies are aggravated by our psychosocial environment. More men commit suicide than women around the world because of the pressures of the patriarchal society. The most important thing is to have a balanced personal, professional and social life.

Talking about social media talk sessions of One Life, Summon said, “We started live talk sessions on social media from June this year. In these sessions, which we host with experts from different fields, we talk about various topics and try to send the message that we should take care of our mind as much as we take care of our body. Success will eventually come to us if we work hard but at the same time, we should not be restricted by the definition of success that the world has set.”

One Life is also planning to launch a new series where they will honour Covid warriors and tell their stories. Through these stories, One Life will tell how positive thinking and acts can make a difference in our lives. A healthy mind needs healthy stimulus and positive stories are a good way to engage our mind. Currently, they are working on the series and preparing the background work.

One Life recently introduced a voice bot which talks to people who visit their website. A team of programmers, who act as their tech consultants, have developed the bot which is a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning and emotional intelligence. One can connect it to any wearable device or use it as an app on the phone. It will act as a personal counsellor.

“Our plan is to design a bot that will sense your emotions and start talking to you. Because of the pandemic, digitisation has accelerated. We are trying to avoid direct contact with people as much as we can and this is going to be the trend for the foreseeable future in the next few years. Earlier, we used to meet our clients in person but now we have made it completely telephonic. Digitisation makes things more accessible to a wider population,” said Summon.

For More Information related to mental health or help, visit www.onelife.net.in or contact 8368288846 and ifo@onelife.net.in

Author: Debi prasad sahu

Debi is an auteur of minimalism and a connoisseur of world movies and music. He loves to go on gastronomic adventures and crack PJs. He writes poetry and is a hippie soul.

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