Alive
Learn to eloquently express your innermost thoughts, tackle obstacles methodically and manage your actions/emotions by talking to us!
What is alive?
The world continues to surprise us with its unparalleled kindness and upstanding tolerance in the face of consecutive challenges. We wanted to contribute to and improve in our small ways to this global wholesomeness. Despite this the world can be an intimidating place full of scary things, but the acknowledgement of the beautiful side of the world is imperative to view this beautiful world in its most realistic light. Alive is a mental health awareness drive that we creatively jolted into existence as expert Mental Health Professionals with the singular aim of raising awareness among people about mental health issues and celebrating the bright side of the world. Currently, according to WHO, 5% of the adult population suffers from depression and approximately 280 MILLION people suffer from it. We conceived of Alive as a medium to reach the masses with the idea of spreading the word about mental health and its intricacies. A small effort, but we had to start somewhere!
What is alive?
The world continues to surprise us with its unparalleled kindness and upstanding tolerance in the face of consecutive challenges. We wanted to contribute to and improve in our small ways to this global wholesomeness. Despite this the world can be an intimidating place full of scary things, but the acknowledgement of the beautiful side of the world is imperative to view this beautiful world in its most realistic light. Alive is a mental health awareness drive that we creatively jolted into existence as expert Mental Health Professionals with the singular aim of raising awareness among people about mental health issues and celebrating the bright side of the world. Currently, according to WHO, 5% of the adult population suffers from depression and approximately 280 MILLION people suffer from it. We conceived of Alive as a medium to reach the masses with the idea of spreading the word about mental health and its intricacies. A small effort, but we had to start somewhere!
Why we started it?
As young enthusiastic professionals, we always met with a wall of ignorance and misinformation when it came to mental health. One of the most common challenges we faced during therapy was to dispense with the basic myths of getting professional mental health. To circumvent this wall, and perhaps make a dent in it, no matter how small, we created Alive. We wanted to help bridge the gap between distresses and help through meaningfully fun and engaging means. We found a resistance from people to seek help because they had no understanding of what mental health issues were, or even if they did, they didn’t know how to address them. Finally, malpracticing and unqualified professionals marred the sanctity of our field. To address all these issues, we channeled our creative energies into Alive. We wanted to bring more professionally accessible help to the masses to help them know themselves better. And like the Mahatma said, we tried to be the change we wanted to see in the world.
How Alive was born?
Alive was a journey for us. With spreading awareness as our goal, we sailed off into the unknown lands, with nothing but our zealous enthusiasm to keep us company and ideas in our heart. The idea was to celebrate mental health and its importance in our lives. To emphasize how beautiful life is and can be when we allow it to wash through us. Another idea was to throw new light on their problems to understand the fact that all of us are in distress in our own lives in unique ways, but it is vanquishable with the right kind of help. The stigma around seeking help for your mental health has always been portrayed as the path of the weak, which cannot be further away from reality! Dispelling this notion and marrying the idea of meaningful art and therapy working together to create outlets of expression for people. Fear is always of the unknown and through alive we wanted to create the light of understanding that illuminates mental health and how it is a basic necessity, not a luxury. Through alive we wanted people to get an idea of how therapy works, what kind of professionals to avoid and normalize checking in with yourself and seeking help as and when needed.
Where did it lead to?
Our maiden voyage turned into a yearly endeavor full of sprawling colors and vibrant volunteers that helped keep our ship en route to our ambitious goals. Without our trusted support systems, Alive would’ve been barely Alive! Our idea of mental health awareness kept growing with each year- from talking about specific distresses like anxiety and depression to an overall mental health first aid. As we grew, so did our audience! From 400 people in 2017 to 10000 people in 2019!
Our Activities
Take a look at some of the fun activities we had
Miniature painting
Art is one of the most satisfying ways of expressing oneself, a satisfying outlet! So we threw together a couple paint tubes, scrounged up some brushes and got people painting!
Thumbprint activity
We are not alone, in the universe, and in our sufferings! This activity brings to the forefront several problems with which people identify and allows people to understand that they’re all human, and whatever they feel and go through is in the gamut of human experiences!
Snakes & Ladders
We go big, or go home, and since it wasn’t lockdown yet, we decided to go big! Human sized snakes and ladders with helpful thoughts as ladders and hurtful thoughts as snakes, a short and sweet metaphor for life!
Match the symbols
A match the symbol game with a twist! Match the shape and quote with its other half, pun intended! The quotes are relationship-related XD
Pottery
As hobbies go pottery is an ancient one, but it still serves as a meaningful outlet for our emotions! The hum of the wheel, the clay between our hands, and our hands shaping it to the absolute expression of our inner selves! Pottery is one of the many hobbies that can work for us as diverse individuals!
Foosball
Unhealthy Envy is an emotion most of us have experienced but none of us are comfortable acknowledging. We had this fun game foosball to promote healthy competition without the bitterness that unhealthy envy brings along. We also raised funds with it. The proceeds went to an NGO to avail mental health services for the underprivileged.
