I AM WELLBEING

Apart from structural inequalities that hamper access to mental health services for the common masses, mental health professionals themselves are bound in a unique conundrum. The conversations around mental health as an imperative subject both for individual and communal well-being, are still fairly nascent in the country. As a result, India is still in its nascent stage of harboring and investing in infrastructure and the necessary means that aid in the proper training of mental health professionals and social workers. There is a paramount deficit in the amount of funding provided by the Government and furthermore, no set rules, laws or ethical and moral groundwork is being laid by the governing or affiliated bodies. As of now, there are only 47 government psychiatric institutions catering to the massive population of 1.3 billion, steadily building an insurmountable pressure on the already scanty number of psychiatric nurses, doctors, psychologists, staff, and mental health advocates.

In a country like ours where every 100 kms, language, culture, dialect and food changes, so do people, their problems, perspectives, opportunities, resources and access to these resources. India is a country of diversity when it comes to culture and traditions but also when it comes to the harrowing gap between the rich and the millions of poor and homeless people that are poverty stricken, and for whom healthcare is a luxury. Much like healthcare, mental wellbeing is a concept foreign to a large population of the country. A lot of factors like poverty and income inequality, religion and caste, cultural and traditional influences, civic and political systems, age and disability as well as gender and sexual orientation are responsible for such an exclusivity of mental health services. About 80% of all healthcare services are being provided by the private sector making mental health practically inaccessible to those who can’t afford it. There is also the pressing issue of specialization