Background

The advancements in medical research, technology, and a more nuanced understanding of social environments have radically altered discourses and dialogues around mental health over the last decade in India. However, despite these positive changes, multiple levels of prejudices and biases cloud one’s effort to address mental health concerns even to date. Through social hierarchies and culturally legitimized irrational myths and beliefs that persist, mental health concerns are forcefully silenced in many spaces. 

Existing research and data attest to how certain groups of the population are more vulnerable to mental health concerns than others. Adolescents, that is, those between the age group of 13-17 years, were found to be particularly vulnerable to depression and anxiety disorders, with the prevalence of mental illness being 7.3% in the period 2015-16 (The Hindu). Girls are also over three times more likely than boys to experience depressive symptoms, and numbers also point to the disconcerting fact that among Indian women and teenage girls between the ages of 15-19, suicide has surpassed maternal mortality as the leading cause of death (Priya Shankar, Girls Globe, 2019). Despite these alarming numbers, what leaves one shocked is that mental health remains an underdeveloped and understaffed arena in Indian healthcare practice. To worsen the lack of access to reliable healthcare resources, the dominant sociocultural attitude also overshadows any attempt to address mental health difficulties with stigma and prejudice. Women, particularly those from rural settings and fragile socioeconomic spaces, are left to succumb to their struggles without healthy spaces to address and articulate their everyday battles with mental health. 

This is where The Sunshine Collective hopes to step in. With the aim of crafting original, educational resources that not only underscore the scientific underpinnings of key hormones and neurotransmitters that impact mental health, but also disseminate vital information in an accessible manner for adolescent girls to navigate puberty, we hope to make an informed difference in this space. Our aim is to foster a better and safer tomorrow — a bright and colorful future where every young girl feels heard and emerges confident to grow into the best version of themselves.