On Monday, Snapchat announced in-app mental health support for its users in India. This feature is especially for those users who are experiencing a mental health or emotional distress as well as for those who want to know more about these issues to help friends and loved ones during the era of COVID-19. The company said that this feature was launched in collaboration with Mariwala Health Initiative and Manas Foundation. The name of the feature is ‘HERE FOR YOU’.
Snap Ink’s VP of Global Public Policy, Park Stout said that we had launched the ‘HERE FOR YOU’ feature in February as we believed that in view of the COVID-19, our global community needed assistance. The company hopes that the resource we launch today will help us take further steps for the betterment of the users.
The Mariwala Health Initiative and the Manas Foundation have developed resources to connect with anxiety, depression, loneliness, suicide, and general mental health. Director of Mariwala Health Initiative, Raj Mariwala said, “Our videos discuss how to deal with stress and anxiety. How to take care of someone struggling with stress and how exercise can make mentally strong.”
Snapchat users can access this feature by searching for words like ‘anxiety’, ‘depression’, ‘loneliness’, ‘suicide’, ‘mental health’ and ‘goodness’. It covers topics such as how to deal with issues related to mental health and how to identify their symptoms in their own lives, as well as people’s questions answered by clinical psychologists and mental health professionals.
Naveen Kumar, Trustee, Manas Foundation said, “This launch is a unique opportunity for users who are struggling with mental health issues every day. We want to let them know that Snapchat and Manas Foundation are always talking to them on mental health is available.”
