Mind matters for her

This 25 year old psychologist nurtured the concept ‘Therapy over Coffee’ in a bid to address the social stigma associated with mental health. Priyanka’s emotional wellness café provides a homely environment wherein people can  unwind by engaging in therapeutic activities and workshops. For this ardent lover of books penned by Osho, painting and sketching are her two most favourite past times.

Mental health care always comes with a slew of questions — of self-doubt and scepticism. Our families still hold fast to the culture where conflicts and familial issues are discussed within the four walls of home and seeing a psychologist is something close to sacrilege for many. Looking at this social stigma, Priyanka pondered over all the possible ways to break the taboo until she came up with the concept of Therapy over Coffee. In 2015, she roped in Nithish Meti and Dr A Jagadish and co-founded Café Artelier, which claims to be the country's first psychological well-being café.

Accolades

Priyanka MB, a gold medallist in BA Psychology would perhaps be the only one in town who contemplated on simplifying mental health care by opening a cafe to break taboos and reach out to the public. In 2015, she started her sessions and has completed over 400 therapy sessions and has two international research journals and one national research journal to her credit.

Social side

The stigma associated with mental illness is still large, and most often, just to get through that therapist’s door in itself is tough. Simplifying mental health care and reaching out to more people was her biggest dream and this is what sparked off the idea. “Statistics indicate that one in five individuals across the country undergoes depression or anxiety and at least 85 per cent hesitate to seek help from doctors. To break this taboo, the only solution, I found was to provide a homely environment where people can have a one on one counselling session with a clinical psychologist and unwind by engaging in therapeutic activities and workshops such as art, dance, music, theatre, play and animal assisted therapy,” points out Priyanka. 

At a time when challenging lifestyles has led to poor self-esteem, broken relationships, addiction and occupational dysfunction at large, Priyanka focuses on emotional wellness and ways of enhancing personal and professional wellbeing. “Depression and suicide is said to be the second largest reason for death. We try to make the world a happier and positive place by providing an atmosphere of warmth, care and affection,” says Priyanka.

Future is bright

Priyanka is now planning to reach out to people in rural areas of Karnataka, and across cities through an e-therapy platform.