What is it like to step into the shoes of a person who has experienced a mental health illness? What does it feel like to deal with it, on the inside?

In collaboration with InnerHour, we are bringing to you a one of a kind monologue show of real stories and real people curated by Sheena Khalid.Connect with the very personal stories of individuals who have lived these experiences of mental illnesses, and how they've dealt with them. Maybe you'll come to relate more than you think?

You also get to take away many learnings for your mental health care from a workshop on 'What My Pain Is Telling Me" conducted by Pratishtha Trivedi Mirza and a movement and verbal expression workshop conducted by Sanchana Krishnan to connect with the performers + people with lived experiences. These interactive workshops aim to help participants understand difficult emotions such as sadness, grief and anger, and to explore self-help strategies to manage them better and to become more self aware. This will also include an interactive discussion of coping mechanisms and later writing a story of how a particular struggle could be better dealt with their choice of a coping mechanism. 

Sheena Khalid's bio: 

Sheena Khalid is a theatre director, writer and actor based in Mumbai. She is a founding member of

the theatre company - Patchworks Ensemble. 

With Patchworks, she has co-directed and co-devised the shows “Ila” and “The Gentlemen’s Club AKA Tape”. Both Ila and the Gentlemen’s Club have travelled to various prestigious theatre festivals around the country. She is one of the five fellows for the “Tendulkar-Dubey Fellowship” for young theatre artists of outstanding talent. In the summer of 2017, she attended the “Lincoln Centre Directors Lab 2017” in New York (fully funded thanks to the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts). On a personal note, Sheena Khalid continues to deepen her exploration into performances and stories about and by women. She strives to create content that is relevant, engaging and humorous.

Pratishtha's bio:

Pratishtha, an MA, MPhil in Clinical Psychology, has been a Senior Clinical Psychologist with InnerHour since August 2016. She drives the research efforts at InnerHour to ensure scientific validity and evidence base for all products and services provided by the organisation. In addition to that, Pratishtha conducts corporate workshops for all B2B partners of the organisation, with a simple and relatable approach and a focus on actionable strategies that can be utilised to address all kinds of mental health concerns. Pratishtha is trained in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and incorporates Humanistic, Mindfulness-based, and Positive Psychology strategies in the sessions. Pratishtha has completed her education in Delhi, with Masters in Psychology from Delhi University and M. Phil in Clinical Psychology from Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Delhi. She worked with the Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences Department at Fortis Hospitals, Delhi-NCR as a consultant clinical psychologist, prior to joining InnerHour, where she dealt with both OPD and IPD clientele with a wide range of mental health concerns. She takes an active interest in speaking about mental health issues and spreading awareness on both personal and professional platforms.

Sanchana's bio:

Sanchana’s roots as an artist and mental health advocate have led to her becoming a social justice-fuelled mental health counselor-in-training. Sanchana is currently in her second year at New York University, pursuing a dual Master of Arts degree in Mental Health and LGBTQ* Affirmative counseling. She is certified in Expressive Arts-Based therapy, which includes visual art, dance and movement. Sanchana brings this creativity into her workshops and sessions, creating a space for experiential learning and growth. In 2017, Sanchana founded a project called "Okay; Not Okay' that aimed at destigmatizing mental health and spreading access to care. She's conducted over 25 workshops in 4 cities across India, and continues these advocacy actions from across the ocean through telehealth. A two-time TEDx speaker, Sanchana got the opportunity to participate in the Obama Foundation Summit and later, speak as a panellist at the Global Mental Health Summit in London, 2018.  

If you want to reach out for professional help and don't know where to, InnerHour is an online mental health platform that can help you out. Feel free to reach out to them at +91 20 7117 1501 or support@theinnerhour.com; you can also download the app from the Play Store or the App Store. No worry is too small to be addressed!