Happiness is when you are in the right zone mentally, says Devanshi Yadav, whose ‘Your Safe Space’ campaign in Bareilly is focused on young individuals
Mental health is still a touchy topic among Indians, but a young social worker in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly is striving to change mindsets by creating awareness and reaching out to those in need. Last year, Devanshi Yadav, 32, launched the ‘Your Safe Space’ campaign for people across age groups, but her focus has been boys and girls under 18. She is currently helping 100 such poor children and teenagers.
“In smaller towns, mental health is a rarely discussed topic. Some of the poor children I help come from families of auto-rickshaw drivers, rickshaw pullers and manual labourers,” says Yadav.
Yadav says these children and teenagers often have no one to share their emotions, fears and anxieties with. “Through our Safe Space initiative, we involve them in various extra-curricular activities, games, music and drama to keep them in a happy zone,” she informs. “We do lots of conversations to make them comfortable with us.”
Sneha (changed name), 14, is one of the beneficiaries of the campaign. “I faced sexual harassment in my childhood but was determined to move forward in life. Attending Devanshi didi’s therapy classes was healing. It helped me blur the past and focus on new goals,” she says.
Yadav’s own challenges and how she coped with them shine as a beacon of hope. She is an acid attack survivor. She was nine months old when her father, a circle officer with the Uttar Pradesh police, died in a bomb blast in 1991. Her mother got a job in the police department as compensation. Yadav grew up listening to stories of her father’s bravery and watching her mother as an inspiring example.
“My father was martyred in a bomb blast just a year into my parents’ marriage. Suddenly my mother found herself to be a single parent at the age of 24,” says Yadav. “As I grew up, I heard tales of my father’s bravery and witnessed my mother’s unwavering strength. Inspired, I began my own journey of contributing to society in various ways from the age of 11, even before I had comprehended the term social worker.”
The ‘Your Safe Space’ campaign aims to boost mental wellbeing across communities and create safe spaces for children in the towns of Uttar Pradesh. “We try to achieve this by offering accessible and affordable therapy to reach out to a wide range of individuals. We organise workshops to address crucial issues like anxiety, depression, body positivity, abuse, domestic violence and education. We have psychologists, life coaches and alternative therapists on board,” says Yadav.
Recalling her trauma of the acid attack, Yadav says: “I was just 14 then. I had refused a boy who had asked me out. He threw an acid on me, resulting in severe burns on the left side of my body. The pain was unbearable, and I spent a month in hospital.”
Support from family and friends helped Yadav find the strength to heal. “However, when I turned 18, I experienced another traumatic event—being molested by a family friend. I managed to escape, but that incident changed me completely. I decided to work to bring change in society. My determination grew stronger when I started meeting poor children and listening to their struggles,” she says.
Yadav set up an NGO, ‘Shaheed Ramashray Welfare Society’, in 2016 in memory of her late father. “Through this organisation, we have rescued girls from sex trade and rehabilitated individuals from the streets of Bareilly. We not only teach girls self-defence but also prepare them to fight their battles,” said Yadav.
Yadav’s goal is to make children’s lives safer and cheer them up. Asked what happiness means to her, she says: ‘For me, happiness is only when you are in the right zone or in a safe space mentally. Once our mental health is fine, we naturally feel happy.”
Article Credit: indiatoday