Fortis National Mental Health Program and myUpchar Join Hands to Launch “Mind U” - Mental Health Podcast in Hinglish

Fortis National Mental Health Program and myUpchar today announced the launch of India’s first of its kind mental health podcast in Hinglish “Mind U”, where leading experts under the aegis of Dr Samir Parikh, Director-Department of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences, will take listeners through crucial aspects of psychological well-being in 20 minutes or less.

Fortis Healthcare runs one of the biggest and most comprehensive mental health programmes in the country under the leadership of Dr Parikh, and myUpchar is India’s biggest healthtech startup.

“Mind U” is a first-of-its-kind deep-dive into mental health and wellness in a language that is accessible to most of us in India and to many Indians living abroad: Hinglish. With a refreshing range of topics from clinical disorders like depression, deepdive into parenting and topics related to youth such as social media, relationships and sexualtiy, the podcast has something for everyone.

Fittingly, the first episode of “Mind U” will drop on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, YouTube, HubHopper, JioSaavn—anywhere you get your podcasts—at 8 am on Saturday, 10 October 2020, World Mental Health Day 2020. (The theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day is “Mental Health for All | Greater Investment Greater Access. Everyone, everywhere.”) Subsequent episodes will drop on Mondays.

“We created ‘Mind U’ with Dr Parikh and a team of experts from Fortis to make mental health topics accessible without watering them down,” said Dr Manuj Garg, co-founder of myUpchar. “myUpchar works a lot in the Hindi and regional content space, and we could find nothing substantial on mental health in these languages. That gap bothered us,” he added.

Along with Dr Parikh, the experts featured in the podcast include Kamna Chhibber, Mimansa Singh, Divya Jain, Aditi Kaul, NishthaNarula, Keshav Sharma and others.

Each episode of “Mind U” unfolds as a conversation where experts answer a series of questions on the topic du jour. And the topics range from parenting 101 to breaking up without breaking down. In each episode, listeners can expect a discussion about things we can all relate to, like navigating social media and maintaining healthy relationships even as our lives become busier and busier. Throughout the series, experts will guide listeners to see the connection between the things we do every day and our mental health.

Take the example of the pilot episode on depression. Many of us think of depression as sadness, as something that doesn’t necessarily touch our own lives. But the fact is that depression is a mental illness that affects one in 20 Indians according to the latest available National Mental Health Survey.

“Indeed, listeners should tune in to this episode for tips on how to recognise the signs of depression in themselves or in a loved one and how to seek help for it. Like the pilot, each subsequent episode of the podcast will serve as a mind-you notice to listeners for positive thinking, building themselves and loved-ones up and seeking help for mental health problems in the same way that they take care of their body”, said Dr Parikh.