“The intelligent way to be selfish is to work for the welfare of others.” - The Dalai Lama.
Let's begin with understanding the words volunteer and volunteering. A volunteer is “a person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service.” (Merriam-Webster). Volunteering is defined as “to offer to do something that you do not have to do, often without having been asked to do it and/or without expecting payment.” (Cambridge Dictionary). We find the quote by his holiness the Dalai Lama representing the two aspects of the process of volunteering. The first aspect is ‘others’ for whom we are volunteering. But the second aspect is our ‘own self’. This is equally important because we strongly feel that without the ‘self’ being involved in volunteering our service to others becomes very mechanical.
Let's try to understand the ‘self’ part of volunteering. Volunteering in general has various motivations. We like the concept put forward by iVolunteer (ivolunteer.ca) on this and classifying the reasons for volunteering into nine categories. These are working towards a cause they believe in, helping others, achieving personal or career-related goals, contributing to community, religious obligations, sharing skills and experiences, networking, a sense of well-being and belonging, and making new friends. We also like to introduce here another concept in psychology, which is ‘Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs’.
Maslow spoke about a five-stage needs model, depicted as a Pyramid. These are grouped as basic needs (physiological, and safety needs), psychological needs (belongingness & love, and esteem needs), and self-fulfillment needs (self-actualization). We would like to juxtapose the nine reasons with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Why does one feel the need to volunteer or what is the motivation for volunteering? At Praan we have been analyzing this and pretty much align and agree with the nine causes and the five needs. The volunteering program at Praan is designed to cater to these needs and motivations. Of course, with the larger goal of building a community of like-minded individuals who want to come together to normalize, and de-stigmatize mental health.
Let me briefly establish the need for volunteering in the mental health space in India. Mental health in India is largely a taboo and there is stigma attached to it. There is lack of awareness about mental health. Also, mental health is a niche area where the service providers (qualified psychologist and counsellors) are less (population and service providers ratio) and the services are rendered at an exorbitantly high cost and often are unaffordable to the average person. Once again there is a urban-rural divide seen in mental health services, as these services are very scarce and unavailable in the rural settings. Another issue is the presence of ‘armchair psychologists’ growing on social media. These days everyone is advising people about mental health.
Let’s look at the demand side of the story. The statistics are alarming, where 1/5th of individuals in India suffer from some form of mental health illness symptoms. There is data that shows that 50% of mental health conditions begin by the age of 14 years and 75% of mental health conditions develop by the age of 24. Around 60-70 million people in the country suffer from common and severe mental disorders. There is an economic side to all of this too, the estimated economic loss due to mental health conditions, between 2012-2030 amounts to USD 1.03 trillion. We have a huge crisis at hand.
One more thing we need to add here is that in our experience of running a 24*7 toll free distress helpline at Praan. We have realized that a majority of the callers who call to discuss their mental health with our counsellors, find an immediate relief from their stress episode by merely talking to someone. It’s a scientifically proven fact through research in psychology and neuroscience that talking to someone helps. This is a topic for a completely separate blog, but what I want the reader to understand is that talking is definitely beneficial.
Let’s come back to the problem we discussed earlier. The gap is evident but what we understand and know is that there is a solution which is very clear and sustainable. The gap can be addressed through volunteering. The idea is to create a cadre of volunteers trained in addressing mental health. There are four levels of training, on mental health issues, on identifying signs and symptoms in the community (friends, family and social circles), on ways to talk about mental health, and on linking the cases to the right service providers. Creating awareness and talking about mental health in the community will bring about the much-needed normalcy around mental health. It will help break the myths and barriers and thus help de-stigmatize mental illness. It will help create safe spaces where discussion around mental health could be facilitated in the right context and sensitivity. The Praan Volunteer is the ‘first responder’ and provides that first line of support that is needed by individuals. The volunteer can help facilitate the process of opening up for people or can also help identify people who need support.
By volunteering for Mental Health, volunteers get to address their own issues and get a community to open up (a safe space) which we all need. Once they understand themselves, it is easy to share their own experiences and learnings authentically with others which makes others understand better. By this, we can achieve (to some extent) the objective of normalizing Mental health discussions. Let us also look at another important aspect. Mental Health is as important as Physical Health. Mental health can in fact cause a lot of physical distress which can compound to further complications and vice versa. Multiple studies show how volunteering has multiple health benefits- physical and mental.
Volunteering helps to neutralize the effects of anxiety, anger, stress, and many other mental health issues. Volunteering in the space of human beings helps, but volunteering with animals has a more profound positive effect on the mental health of the volunteer. Depression can be effectively combated through volunteering and volunteering provides a supportive environment for the volunteer. The joy of volunteering and the happiness that it gives the volunteer has a lot of positive endocrinological effects. Volunteering boosts self-confidence as it provides a sense of purpose and a sense of accomplishment. Volunteering helps in the reduction of stress and happiness has a good effect on the human heart. Getting involved in a physical activity during volunteering is an exercise for the mind and the body, keeping you both mentally and physically active. Some studies have shown positive effects on blood pressure, age, and reduction of chronic aches and pains.
So, friends and readers, let's start volunteering. Let’s identify a cause close to our heart and start making a difference in the lives of others and our own lives.
Signing off…
Dr. Athar Qureshi (Business Unit - Operations Head, Praan Mental Wellness) & Ms. Shree Kavya (Volunteer @ Praan)
