By Fiona Dosanjh, E&I Summer Marketing Intern
The importance of mental health isn’t widely known or recognized in India. But one vlog senior is working to change that.
Harshitha Talasila ’26 was awarded a Projects for Peace grant this year for a proposal focused on mental health education in India. The program grants $1.25 million to student leaders at eligible partner institutions, including vlog, who are developing innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues.
Identifying Mental Health as a Focus Area
Talasila previously co-led SoilSoul, a TIA campus venture aiming to implement large-scale composting solutions for vlog and the greater Hamilton community. Talasila credits her experience of conducting customer discovery in TIA with helping her identify her focus area this summer. “I knew that I wanted to work on social impact issues affecting young adults in India,” she said. “I originally wanted to focus on sustainability, but after engaging in multiple conversations with people on the ground, I found that the need for mental health awareness was a more pressing concern.”
Harshitha is currently working with Young Indians (Yi) Chapter in Amaravati, India to design and implement “more effective programming on mental health for students” focused on mental health and drug-use prevention in the broader region surrounding Amaravati in South India.
“Mental health is important to our overall well-being, but the topic isn’t widely known or recognized in India. Mental health is still widely stigmatized and considered taboo, with the treatment gap for individuals who are struggling being an estimated 85 percent,” Talasila said.
Talasila has received an overwhelming response from schools and colleges. “So far, we’re looking at 14 schools and colleges with approximately 4,500 students where we’re doing outreach,” Talasila said.
Approachable Workshops Include Subject Matter Expertise
Talasila introduces the workshop to get the students excited, facilitates ice-breaker activities — in order for her and the team to better understand the students’ knowledge of mental health and substance abuse — and shares definitions and some examples before Medikonda presents. “Together, we cover what mental health and substance abuse are, how to manage stress, and how to help individuals in distress,” Talasila said.
A psychologist, Dr. Meena Medikonda, is also working with them. “She participates in the workshop,” Talasila said. “Following the workshop, she spends about 30–45 minutes having one-on-one time to help students better understand mental health, addiction, substance abuse, and other problems they may be facing. This allows them to bring up any sensitive questions or concerns privately, but is also a resource for students to ask about her work and what she does.”
Looking Beyond the Summer
Looking ahead, Yi Amravati and Talasila are helping future programs be the most effective they can. “At every high school and college, we are collecting feedback forms at the end of each session to understand what is and isn't working for the students, their concerns, and future topics to discuss,” Talasila said.
The hope is that the program will continue to grow. A couple of colleges have expressed interest in another session of the workshop, and nearby chapters of YI have also expressed interest in joining the project.
Talasila also said she would love to continue this work beyond this summer and that she has been talking to Yi Amravati about how to stay involved and expand this programming. “Some schools have expressed that they would like for me to virtually host sessions or host another workshop the next time I'm in the area,” Talasila said.
Personally, she has discovered her love for this type of work. She said, “finding ways to connect with students, create open spaces for discussion, and better understand and address a pressing issue has been really fulfilling. I hope to continue work like this in the future, even if it's not in this topic.”
Talasila’s overall assessment? “The summer has been going great so far. I’m thrilled with the responses we’re getting and can’t wait to see where this will go.”