One Year of Mentality

Impact Report (2025-26)

I announced the launch of Mentality on 10 October 2025 on social media. Almost instantly, there were about 25,000 impressions on LinkedIn. Most comments were about how such a platform was the need of the hour.

“We feel you,” we said.

I put in all my savings to plan the next steps while Sarita Ramamoorthy, Mentality’s backbone in many ways, began designing the logo, the website and setting up social media profiles.

As start-up cliches go, we started operations “from our garage.”

Within no time, we were inundated with pitches from around the country. Clearly, there were journalists who had thought of mental health from a systemic lens but could not really find a dedicated platform to showcase their stories.

(Re)defining Mental Health Reporting

The world has never seen longer life spans, advancements in medicine, and high economic growth rates; yet, it has also not seen such outrageous economic inequality, fragmented societies, individualistic lifestyles, and increasing AI dependence.

All of this points to the fact that mental health conversations will dominate a future where abundance coexists with extreme scarcity, and technological advancements occur alongside broken human relations.

In order to be prepared for that, stories on housing, climate, education or labour, should foreground community mental health issues. Right now, they do not. Mentality is here to change that narrative on mental health.

Moreover, mainstream media often limits mental health stories to extreme mental illnesses or psychosocial disorders (such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or personality disorders), which are prevalent in at most 12% of the population. However, mental stressors like depression, anxiety, and stress are prevalent in a majority of our population. Every adult Indian experiences clinical levels of these stressors at least once in their lives. So, if we do not look at the more common stressors systemically, we are missing the forest for the trees, not to mention the lack of accountability seeking that results from such omission.

Today, we are proud to have published 40 reported stories and 6 personal essays at the intersection of flooding, drought, animal rights, gender, sexuality, housing, migration, urbanisation, and youth. 

In our mission to cover Indians who are often ignored by mainstream media, we commissioned stories from different parts of the country like Salamabad area of Jammu’s Uri district, Baniarapara village in Assam’s Barpeta district, Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district, Sangaria in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district, and Farah in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district among others.

We have published deeply researched stories on substance abuse, mental health access, and stigma. 

We are proud to say that we pay journalists more than most mainstream publications do. All our rates are available on our website.  

Each of our stories carry small promotional videos in regional Indian languages, with the hope of bridging the gap between English-speaking Indians and those who do not. 

Reaching beyond our means

We were republished not only by other general audience digital journalism platforms like The Federal, but also by AIDEM, run by senior Delhi-based journalists with a strong vision towards policy change

A social-first platform, SpotOn news, turned our stories into social-native content. We were also republished by international platforms like Global Voices.

Our work is as broadbased as it is niche. Mad In South Asia, a publication showcasing the experience of the users of mental health services in South Asia, republished our stories.

In March 2026, we started a newsletter. Until now, audiences have engaged deeply with our journalism through our weekly newsletters, especially since they carry a tiny peak into our personal lives as well.

In June 2026, we began recording video conversations with mental health professionals to contextualise the work different experts are doing. Until now, we have recorded interviews on queer mental health, sports psychology, youth mental health and polyamory. Some of our audience preferred video formats and we delivered.

Collaborations and more

We joined hands with Mongabay India to report a series of stories at the intersection of mental health and climate change from the coastal regions of the country.

We have also signed an MoU with Nivarana, a website dedicated to matters concerning India’s public health, for content sharing and funding-related activities.

Tikker.app, an aggregator for independent journalism, enlisted us alongside other fantastic deeply researched journalism platforms in the country.

We announced an essay contest, inviting submissions on people’s mental health journeys. With this, we wanted to ensure lived experience expertise had its own space on our platform. We are very pleased with the response and will announce the results soon.

Taking journalism out of the newsroom

At Mentality, we see ourselves as being more than a publishing platform. We reach out to our audiences in person so we understand their needs better. In addition, when we bring in experts face-to-face with our audience, we form that essential bridge between the two.

On 5 September 2026, we collaborated with Maharashtra Mitra Mandal (Mcubed) Library, Bandra, for a spirited discussion on the importance of outdoor play areas in increasingly concretising cities like Mumbai.

In collaboration with Love Your Parks Mumbai, on 6 September 2026, we gathered at Patwardhan Park in Khar to discuss the mental health of children living in high rise buildings of Mumbai. About two dozen families came out on a pleasant evening to discuss the challenges their kids face, even as they took the opportunity to play under the open skies.

On 4 October 2026, Mentality gathered five mental health experts at Atta Galatta, Bangalore to discuss alcohol abuse among youth. Questions on early intervention, casual alcohol use and withdrawal symptoms were answered in depth.

On 10 October, to celebrate our first birthday, we have invited four experts to the Bangalore International Center to discuss the history of the alcohol industry and its social impacts on people who are dependent on the substance. Stay tuned to our social media platforms to know more about how that turns out.

We look forward to our second year and seek your support to ensure we continue our work.

Warmly,

Raksha Kumar,
Founder Editor, Mentality.