HuesTherapy

A two-fold approach of Preventative Mental Healthcare along with Accessible Resources for Beneficiaries.

There is a treatment gap of 70-92 percent when it comes to mental health resources in India. One of the core reasons for this is the lack of financial accessibility

In the pandemic, large masses of the population suffered a lot because of grief and uncertainty.  There is a pertinent need to have access to mental health care, specially after the pandemic.

The HuesTherapy Project is a one-step solution for them to reach out for help, as a step towards improving their mental health. 

Misinformation and disinterest are two widely witnessed phenomena in the realm of education, more so in the specific field of Psychology and Mental Health. 

This problem can either be solved directly or indirectly. The direct manner involves rigorous training and workshops on the identification and prevention of misinformation in communities, which is difficult to implement and doesn’t have the required impact. An interactive interface, such as HuesEd (a sub component of HuesTherapy), would inherently serve the purpose of inculcating the required values, previously an intangible task, as a byproduct of experiencing a role-playing game.

By implementing the HuesTherapy project- we aim to bridge the mental healthcare gap, by subsidising the cost of therapy sessions.

The project would also include the development of resources that are vital in the process of therapy. This is to ensure that there is enough awareness and education about the resources.

Our Process

• Expand the National Award winning Repository of MH professionals whilst subsidizing therapy
• Expand and Scale  to more cities based on feedback and learnings
• Develop HuesEd, an interactive platform with educational modules in a game-like environment
• Connecting schools with the resources to impact the children and youth

Features of the project

• Game like visuals to increase appeal
• Interactive Ed-tech
• Repository by Name, Issue, or City
• SoS help available
• Financial help, Discounts offered 
• All therapists available virtually
• Tailor made for children
• Pocket- friendly

Misinformation and disinterest are two widely witnessed phenomena in the realm of education, more so in the specific field of Psychology and Mental Health. 

This problem can either be solved directly or indirectly. The direct manner involves rigorous training and workshops on the identification and prevention of misinformation in communities, which is difficult to implement and doesn’t have the required impact. An interactive interface, such as HuesEd, would inherently serve the purpose of inculcating the required values, previously an intangible task, as a byproduct of experiencing a role-playing game.

Innovations

Availability: All resources made available in one location

Accessibility: Innovative and digitally available solutions

Affordability: Subsidised resources offered

Our team is youth focused and youth led, which allows us to develop a more nuanced understanding of the challenges that the youth faces. We have many people with lived experiences of mental health disorders in our team, that help us empathise more.

Our team is also diverse and is spread across different states of the country, that allow us to bring diverse perspectives to life. Moreover, we have different educational backgrounds, ranging from psychology, liberal arts to engineering and medical sciences. This allows for an even widened scope of understanding. Several members of our team have entrepreneurial experiences and have worked closely with Fortune 500 companies.

Our work so far:

More than fifteen thousand beneficiaries have directly been impacted by our workshops, conferences, and events. These beneficiaries are of varying age groups, ranging from eight-year-olds to twenty-five-year-olds. These sharing spaces have been in forty plus locations, ranging from India to the United States of America, Nepal, South Korea, and more.

We raise awareness on our social media platforms, which have witnessed more than a hundred collaborations for content, campaigns, and live social media events. Our social media platforms on Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter have a cumulative reach of an average of five thousand users virtually.

Other than that, our multiple initiatives have impacted more than ten thousand users and subscribers. Our newsletter, the HuesLetter, has had over forty successful editions, reaching more than a thousand subscribers within the first 18 months. Huesofthemind's podcasts in Hindi and English have reached more than two thousand listeners. Our virtual repository that helps people connect with professional help has received an average of a thousand users per month since its inception in June.

Our team has also been interviewed by The Times of India, the National newspaper of India, and AIESEC, the world's largest youth-run organization, thereby inspiring thousands more.

Recently, we were invited to present a workshop on ‘Battling the Stigma Around Mental Health’ at the One Young World Conference held in Manchester wherein our Founder and Executive Director, Manasi Gupta, delivered the session in a room which saw equal participation from experienced and young professionals. The event had received 50,000 applications out of which 630 applications were selected. Furthermore, our Founder, Manasi Gupta, was sponsored for the entire duration of the event by the Z Zurich Foundation, in recognition of her actions and initiatives towards fighting the stigma around mental health.

Hence, we've nearly impacted close to fifty thousand beneficiaries worldwide.

We have conducted the following:

1. Market Research: 200+ responses from our target audience i.e the youth

2. Research: Secondary research with students majoring in psychology

3. Competitor Analysis: An understanding of our competitors and the products/services they offer

By implementing the HuesTherapy project- we aim to bridge the mental healthcare gap, by subsidising the cost of therapy sessions.

The project would also include the development of resources that are vital in the process of therapy. This is to ensure that there is enough awareness and education about the resources.

The solution hasn’t been implemented in the country yet, and after being implemented to a small group- it can easily be scaled up. The use of an interactive is a unique proposition.

The world will receive the healthcare treatment that they need, but can’t afford or don’t have the resources to access.

We will positively impact the well-being of a vulnerable group of young adults, thereby positively shaping their lives in a beautiful way.

The key milestones are as following-

1. [1-2 months] To further build and improve the national-award winning mental health repository that we have by adding more mh professionals and deploy the changes on the website. KPI- The number and quality of MH professionals displayed on the website.

2. [1 month] To finalise the channels of payment, and the logistical obligations of the process including payment to the therapist, receiving payment from the client. KPI- Beta testing with users, learning from their feedback

3. [1 month] To finalise the educational content for aiding the process of therapy. This will be interactive- in the form of videos. KPI- Feedback from different mental health professionals who are well-established in the field.

4. [2 months]- Marketing the idea on our social media platforms, website and newsletter. Collaborating with individuals and organisations to help reach out to the target audience. KPI- tracking the social media reach, and analysing+ visualising the data.

5. [3-4 months] Application of a feedback mechanism- Learning from the feedback of every therapy session, and improving accordingly. KPI- number of beneficiaries impacted, number of sessions, qualitative & quantitative feedback.

The impact of HuesTherapy can be quantified in a two-fold vision:

Our clients would have the choice to 

1. Retain our modules for their respective spaces/organizations, or

2. Permit us to publish the module on our website, with sponsorship credits to their respective spaces/organizations

At the end of each module, the candidates who would successfully complete the challenges would receive content-relevant codes that can be redeemed at events or workshops hosted by Huesofthemind, to avail of special offers and discounts on our incentive-based products [including but not limited to Hues of You, HuesMerch and HueShare]

The quantified data would be derived from website/host platform analytics in both scenarios presented to the clients. The impact can be quantified by understanding how many individuals successfully completed the challenges posed and redeemed their respective codes through Huesofthemind’s workshops and events.

Technologies needed: Data Analystics, Business Visualisation, Website development, Instructional Design Softwares

We have collaborated with 200+ organisations including,

1) International organisations: United Nations SDSN, UN Youth Forum, UN MCN Network, Global Changemakers, One Young World

2) Universities: University of Nairobi, HKUST, Delhi University

3) Schools: Delhi Public School, Gurugram

4) Non-Profit organisations: Swasti- The Health Catalyst, Maher Ashram

5) Youth-led organisations: AIESEC in India, Rotaract, Enactus

6) Corporates: Shell, Buhler Group

Business Model: Service Based

Source of Income:

1. Collaborations with Schools, Universities, Corporates

2. Website hits

3. Events and Workshops

Costs Involved:

1. Training Cost: For interns hired in product development roles. We intend to hire 2-3 product development interns, and intend to pay each intern € 1500 per annum, hence we would need € 4500 as funds for the upcoming year.

2. Logistics and Operations Costs: We would require € 2000 to cover the logistics and operations costs of our offline event. In addition to that, we would need € 1000 in order to bring in quality guest speakers for our offline and online events.

3. Marketing Costs: Influencer Marketing - €100 per month (1200 per annum per influencer), Sponsored Posts on Instagram and LinkedIn (€2000 per annum budget cap)

4. Handling costs for Mental Health Repository: A lot of mental health professionals demand a monetary agreement before agreeing to offer their services to our clients. Hence, we would require € 6000 to bring on board 4-5 quality mental health professionals in the coming year. 

Following are the sources of finance for our organisation:

1. CSR/Corporate Events: Introduced recently, we aim to reach out to corporates and startups, and work towards employee welfare activities. We intend to charge a small amount, in the range of € 250 to € 300 per organisation, in order to cover the expenses incurred for conducting the workshop successfully.

2. Annual Online/Offline Events: Every year, we conduct paid online events, in collaboration with over 40 speakers, performers and organisations aimed towards educating the general population about mental health issues. With the pandemic situation improving gradually, we intend to conduct these events offline, for which we will need € 2000 per event (1 event per year) in order to ensure that all our previous clients can attend these events without having to pay an increased amount incurred due to a change in the medium of the event.

3. Huesmerch: At Huesofthemind, we've always believed in helping you help yourself. Taking this a notch further, we've worked towards establishing a Merchandise line, in partnership with some really beautiful small businesses. All proceeds from the sale of HuesMerch go towards uplifting these businesses and creating a safer space for others, by making therapy more accessible. Furthermore, to expand our product line, we would require 2-3 interns who are extremely skilled in the field of product development and product design, and hence, we would need € 1500 per intern per annum in order to bring them on board and pay their stipends.