White Swan Foundation for Mental Health announced its launch as a not-for-profit organisation that will deliver information services on mental health to the people. White Swan Foundation‘s mission is to ‘deliver information services for mental health and wellbeing’. The not-for-profit organization is founded by several Mindtree founders with initial support from two of its investors.
In its first phase, White Swan Foundation intends to deliver high-quality content through a portal in multiple languages to the youth in the tier 1 and tier 2 cities of India. The information repository is expected to 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.
White Swan Foundation has entered into a partnership with National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS). As part of the partnership, White Swan Foundation will get access to the rich repository of knowledge on mental health that the coveted institution and its distinguished doctors have.
“NIMHANS is globally respected in the field of mental healthcare. In the nearly 90 years of its existence, NIMHANS has contributed to providing mental healthcare to the country; at NIMHANS, we have built rich knowledge in the mental health space. 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 Dr P Satishchandra, NIMHANS Director/Vice Chancellor.
“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 with the vision of placing in the hands of each citizen of the country access to information on mental health. We hope that with rich content and actionable information, we will be able to catalyse the transformation of the mental healthcare sector in India,” said Subroto Bagchi, Chairman, White Swan Foundation.
“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 Sujaya Krishnan, Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, adding, “The vision of White Swan Foundation to deliver information to people will go a long way in complimenting the contributions made by other institutions, agencies and individuals in the mental healthcare sector.”
EH News Bureau