Now help from mental health institutions is at your fingertips

Depression is a silent killer. This is an issue that is silently plaguing India at a massive scale. According to the World Health Organisation, about 36 per cent of the depressed people in the world are from India.

While talking about mental health issues is social stigma, the bigger issue is that people who are looking for help can’t easily find help because no comprehensive database of psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and therapists exists today.

In a bid to curb this, on the World Mental Health Day Social Cops has partnered with actor Deepika Padukone’s The Live Love Laugh Foundation, the non-profit organisation to champion the cause of mental health in India. The actor went through a low phase sometime early in 2014 and sought help from her family to deal with her depression.

Her family thought it was best to seek professional help and was she put on medication. With timely medical help and a lot of support from her family, her condition drastically improved.

Social Maps will use their open data platform and tools to work with the foundation and build a national database which will enable those seeking help to discreetly find a therapist in their neighbourhood at the click of a button, through a simple searchable interface and map.

Read: Deepika Padukone to now help distressed farmers

The current map lists only psychiatrists and mental health institutions (these are registered professionals and are practicing with a license – Before they list other options (counsellors, therapists etc),there is a process being put in place by which a call will be made to verify them and their profile will be vetted by a panel of experts.

You can look for your nearest help on this map:

We are pleased to partner with SocialCops in creating this database of mental health institutions and professionals in India. Over a period of time, we expect this to be the most comprehensive database in India.

Read: I had to take medication for depression, says Deepika Padukone

We are very impressed with the expertise and energy that SocialCops have brought to this project that aims to connect people with mental health problems to experts,” says Anna Chandy, Chairperson and Trustee of The Live Love Laugh Foundation.