Since the pandemic began, Gen Z and millennials have been shaken up with uncertainties around various topics surrounding their career, personal space, forging new friendships and skill development. Grief, fear, uncertainty, social isolation, increased screen time, and parental fatigue have negatively affected the mental health of students.
Friendships and family support are strong stabilizing forces for teens, but the COVID-19 pandemic has also disrupted them. To add fuel to this, most schools in rural India where the impoverished students largely congregate lack psychological counsellors. Although the government mandates all schools to have counsellors, the policy has not been enforced vigorously.
Mental health awareness and timely access is the need of the hour for the student community, and student housing company your-space wants to encourage active communication around it. To fill this gap, your-space has initiated a socially driven partnership with YourDOST, an online counseling and emotional support platform designed to foster mental wellness.
This initiative brings professional counseling services 24×7 that are tailor-made for students which will be easily accessible through the your-space community app.
your-space is an IIM-Cambridge-Oxford alumni initiative, co-founded by former bankers, consultants and friends, Nidhi Kumra and Shubha Lal who identified the gap in the organized student housing sector. The core philosophy behind the company is to cultivate a student-first environment that promotes holistic well-being and personal growth. YourDOST has expertise in dealing with students’ mental and emotional well-being and is a great fit for an awareness and counselling partner.
As a part of their initiative to build India’s first student community, your-space recently launched their Community App. The community provides members with access to curated experiences and deals amongst other community benefits. With this partnership, students can now seek guidance from 1000 experts, with complete privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity. They can discuss various concerns about career, relationships, time management, confidence. They can chat with the experts 24×7 and set up appointments with qualified psychologists with a tap of a button.
“Mental health is an undeniable part of people’s lives and empowering students with sound mental health awareness could be the weapon to prepare the youth of tomorrow. We prepare them through specific training modules, workshops and assessments to build qualities of resilience, increased self esteem and healthy coping mechanisms,” says Richa Singh, Co Founder YourDOST.
Shubha Lal from your-space says, “While Gen Z is far more active about leading conversations around mental health, we felt that we wanted to bring experts available 24×7 to their perusal whenever the need arises so they don’t have to struggle to find the right fit and have resources handy.”
