The mental health crisis in young India #YuvaaRoadshow #Yuvaa

Yuvaa has now travelled to Pune, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Indore, Bhopal, Nagpur, Raipur, Goa, Chennai, Calicut, Bangalore & Hyderabad (12 cities), to 30+ engineering, arts & commerce colleges to listen to young India. It's been OVERWHELMING!

We are meeting a new generation of post-technology kids and here's the thing: This generation has more ways of being connected with each other than any generation before through social media, and somehow it is more disconnected with each other than any generation before. I've now heard the stories of hundreds of students personally and I have realised that this generation is facing the biggest mental health and identity crises than any other generation because of the inherent conflict between their lives online and their realities offline.

Here are the takeaways so far:

1. There's little love: It's been heartbreaking to hear how so many kids have spoken about the absence of love in their lives. Not romantic love, but love from parents, society, peers or friends. There's a severe lack of empathy in our society. Our society tells men that you are supposed to be strong: bury everything inside; don't express yourself. And tells women that you are weak: keep everything inside; no need to express. So no one's expressing and many kids haven't been told 'I love you' from their parents.

2. Acceptance: Since there's less love, there's hardly any acceptance. Kids are stopped from choosing what they want, to being who they want, to loving whom they want. Where this has happened in most generations, in this one, it's aggravated because of the internet. Parents, who only saw the internet post adulthood, have lived with patriarchal conditioning all the years before. But their kids have grown up knowing there's more to the world: so they reject their values, only to be halted in their dreams by parents who don't understand them.

But instead of rebelling, today's kids are trying hard to bridge the generation gap through negotiation and even empathy. Thanks to the internet, they are aware of their privilege, and are trying to find the balance in being who they are and not letting down their parents.

3. Self expression issues: But because of the constant conflict in their life between their liberal minds & their conservative parents, they are finding it hard to express themselves. Everyone wants to speak, but there's no one to listen. And if they do speak, they get trolled. The internet is not safe for them to express because it hyper perpetuates being thin, looking good, being happy, being awesome, having a LIT AF time always. Being ‘different’ affects their self worth. 'If I say something real, will I fit in?' 'If I'm sad, does anyone care?’

4. Identity & mental health issues: Most kids I've listened to are going through some version of an identity or mental health issue (or has, at some time in the past, including and upto self harm and suicide attempts) because no one understands them, and they feel severely alone. A rare few have found solace in online communities, whereas others have said they have support in *one* friend, parent or mentor. But most are battling it on their own, keeping it all inside of them, scrolling on their phones through memes that give them momentary comfort.

So when we go to their colleges, in a one hour talk, I share my own vulnerabilities and past anxiety issues and tell them how sharing stories can empower. When, at the end of my session, I say something as simple as 'Your story matters' and ask them to share theirs, *everyone* opens up. So many cry. It's really been incredibly cathartic to see what can happen when you give young people a safe space to express themselves and be heard without judgement.

In IIITDM Chennai, after a one hour session to 120+ students of different batches, stories were shared for over 3 hours! It was absolutely amazing: when the first kid shared, everyone followed, and over 25 kids spoke one after the other about things like self worth, getting out of depression, casteism, sexual assault, the right to wear religious attire, and so much more! And EVERYONE LISTENED.

The Yuvaa team and I were in that college till 11 pm that night, just listening, and not able to believe how beautiful it was what we had just witnessed: a community of young people creating a safe space themselves, by listening to each other with respect and empathy. 😊❤️

I can't explain how grateful I feel every single day to be doing this. We have been on the road for over 20 days & we have over 35 to go (including to the North East and Port Blair). Our belief is: Stories can make you feel less alone. And that's all we want for India's Yuvaas. ❤️

P.S. We have 70 colleges to go across the rest of the country. We are shooting a documentary on youth mental health, that's won the Goalkeepers Youth Action Accelerator Award for accelerating the UN Global Goals :). Join us in our journey on all social media @weareyuvaa.