White Swan Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation in the field of mental health, has now teamed up with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) to develop a repository on mental health and well being and share it with the Indian population.

The Foundation is floated by the information technology major Mindtree founders with initial support from two of its investors.

In its first phase, the  Foundation will deliver high-quality content through a portal in multiple languages to the youth in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities of India. Eventually, it will serve the information needs of every Indian citizen. The information repository will help patients, their caregivers and the general public in early detection and diagnose, seek remedies, learn about peer success stories, search for professional help and participate in the fight against social stigma surrounding mental health.

Mental Healthcare sector in India today faces numerous challenges. Over 20 per cent of Indians suffer from one or other form of mental health conditions. For a population of 1.2 billion people, India has only 4,500 psychiatrists. Besides lack of infrastructure, caregivers need to tackle widespread ignorance and deep-rooted social stigma associated with mental health.

“Mental health issues are closer to us than ever before. It is only through access to right knowledge that people will be empowered to take informed decisions on mental health. It is the people who, when they come out of ignorance, will demand better services and proactively participate to create a conducive social environment. White Swan Foundation has been created to provide  access to information on mental health. We hope with this  actionable information, we will be able to catalyse the transformation of the mental healthcare sector in India,” said  Subroto Bagchi, chairman, White Swan Foundation.

The  Foundation has constituted a Board of Advisors who include Dr. P. Satishchandra, director/vice chancellor,  NIMHANS, Sujaya Krishnan Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India,  Dr. V. Ravi registrar and Head of the Department of Neurovirology, NIMHANS Dr. Prabha Chandra, Professor,  Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS.

“Even as mental healthcare professionals, social entrepreneurs and government agencies have been carrying out impressive work to reduce the treatment gap in mental health, social and infrastructural issues have prevented the tipping of the awareness scale. We must ensure that people are empowered with knowledge to seek and demand better services,” said Krishnan.

“We are happy to incubate White Swan Foundation at NIMHANS; we believe it will go a long way in our efforts to fight mental illness and promote mental wellbeing,” said  Satishchandra.