Introduction

India is home to 253 million adolescents (10-19) and nearly 50 percent of India’s population is under 25, an amazing aspect for any country's growth and future. However, there are key challenges to India’s adolescents developing their full potential as happy and healthy adults. Several of these challenges pertain to mental health and well-being.

According to State of the World's Children 2020, one in seven Indians aged between 15-19 feels depressed. The same study highlights that most young Indians did not feel the need to reach out to others when experiencing mental health issues.

India also has a high suicide rate among students. According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau 13000 children died by suicide in 2021, a figure that has a steady 15-20 percent annual rise over the last five years, and is considered under reported by 37 percent, according to a Global Burden of Disease study published by Lancet.

A significant number of suicides among adolescents and young people in India are driven by pressure to perform well in professional exams. India's highly competitive education system places immense stress on students, leading to conditions like anxiety and depression.

Instances of students committing suicide, due to academic or unemployment pressure, make news headlines almost everyday. The youth group affected most by the academic pressure comprises adolescents from the age of 15 to young people in the age range of 20-25. In fact the percent of students suicide in the country has been the highest in last five years.

The high suicide rate among young people adds to India’s overall suicide burden as the country ranks highest in suicide rate in the South-East Asian region and 39th globally, according to the World Health Organizations’ Suicides WorldWide in 2019 report.

Another key challenge in adolescent well being is that mental health is yet to be integrated and understood as an essential aspect of health care. While there is some conversation and awareness in the bigger cities, mental health receives little or no attention in smaller cities, towns and villages. Even in schools, where health check-ups are often conducted for students, this only constitutes physical health checks.

Mental health issues are also often stigmatized in Indian society. Many young people hesitate to seek help due to fear of discrimination or shame. According to a study, "How India Perceives Mental Health”, people often use words like ‘retard’,’crazy’, ‘mad’ and ‘Stupid’ to describe people with mental illness. This is particularly important for young people as studies show that stigma negatively impacts help-seeking by young people more than adults.

Student Well-Being Program

Recognizing the critical need to support mental well being of adolescents in India, DC in partnership with the Asian Youth Mental Well-Being Fund has launched a comprehensive Student Mental Well-Being Program.

The Student Mental Well-Being Program aims to integrate mental well-being into school systems for sustainable support and care along with the creation of India’s largest mental well-being resources for young people via teenbook.in.

Aligned with the Government of India’s School Health and Wellness Program and the New Education Policy 2020 and UN SDG 3 (well-being and mental health for all), the Student Mental Well-Being Program integrates mental well-being into education, emphasizing its importance alongside physical health. By fostering emotional resilience and life skills, the program lays a foundation for adolescents to grow into happy, healthy, and successful adults.

DC’s Student Well-Being Program is implemented through its two key initiatives: Project TeenBook and Project Abhyuday. TeenBook, launched in 2020, is India's first comprehensive bilingual life skills program for adolescents, equipping teenagers with the skills, knowledge, and behaviors necessary to make informed choices as they transition to adulthood.

Project Abhyuday focuses on integrating social, emotional, and life skills curriculum within schools. This program supports the integration process through curriculum development, educator training, monitoring and evaluation, and regular quality assurance assessments to measure the impact on both academic progress and student well-being.

Key Program Components

The Youth Mental Well-Being Program is designed to provide comprehensive support to adolescents, schools, and families through a variety of impactful activities. Key components include psychological well-being screenings, workshops for students, teachers, and parents, and ongoing online engagement.

These activities aim to enhance emotional well-being, reduce stigma, and build a supportive environment for adolescent development. By focusing on both in-person and online strategies, the program empowers students with the tools they need to manage mental health challenges and fosters collaboration between educators, parents, and mental health professionals to ensure sustainable support. Here are more details:

1. Psychological Well-Being Screenings

The program features well-being screenings for adolescent students, a groundbreaking step in mental health integration into the school system. Just like annual physical health screenings in most schools, where students are assessed for height, weight, eyesight, dental health, and more, this pilot initiative introduces a similar approach for mental well-being. These screenings have been meticulously developed by psychologists, enabling the integration of a mental well-being check at the school level.

These well-being screenings evaluate and monitor students' emotional and psychological well-being. Based on the findings, students are categorized according to the urgency of help needed, whether immediate intervention, counseling, or additional support. These screenings provide detailed reports on mental health indicators such as self-harm risks, depression, and other challenges, categorizing students based on the urgency of intervention—whether they require immediate help, counseling, or additional support. Insights from these screenings are shared with parents and teachers, empowering them to provide targeted emotional and mental support for the students and guide them toward the appropriate resources for further assistance.

The at-risk cases are provided psychological first aid, a targeted support to provide immediate support followed by a counselling session with parents on the next steps. These assessments provide detailed individual reports to guide teachers and parents in supporting students' mental development.

Currently being conducted in Delhi, in budget private schools, which are low-cost, privately operated educational institutions offering affordable education to students from lower to middle-income families - these screenings provide a holistic approach to supporting students' mental well-being. The screenings also reveal insightful data on the mental well-being status of young adolescents in schools which will be employed by DC to make a case for such screenings to be institutionalized across the board.

2. Capacity Building for Students

Well-Being Workshops for Students are interactive sessions aimed at empowering students to understand what mental well-being is and how one can manage one’s own well being. These workshops help students learn how to manage their emotions, build resilience, and effectively tackle challenges such as peer pressure and academic stress. Currently being rolled out in Delhi and Bihar, these workshops are an essential part of a comprehensive mental well-being program, aiming to foster healthier, more emotionally intelligent students.

We have developed and rolled out workshops focused on mental well-being for both school and out-of-school settings. These workshops are interactive, using audiovisual methods and other engaging techniques to help students actively participate and apply the skills they learn.

These workshops are also designed to enhance personal effectiveness, focusing on equipping students with the skills needed to navigate the emotional and social hurdles they encounter in their daily lives.

The workshops complement the psychological screenings, providing students with tools to better understand their emotions and develop the resilience needed to face adversity, build self-confidence and resilience, empowering students to overcome challenges and thrive in both their academic and social environments.

3. Capacity-Building for Teachers

We recognize that understanding children and supporting their growth into happy, healthy individuals is a three-way partnership involving students, parents, and, most importantly, teachers. Teachers, as key pillars in a student’s life, spend significant time with them and play a vital role in shaping their emotional development, academic growth, and overall well-being. They play a key role in shaping students' emotional and social development, and their well-being is crucial to effectively supporting students.

Under this program, we conducted a series of workshops aimed at enhancing teachers’ understanding of mental health, providing them with valuable tools to support their students' well-being. These workshops focus on the importance of empathy, self-care, and resilience, with the goal of helping teachers navigate the challenges of adolescence and fostering a positive learning environment.

This holistic approach has led to the development and implementation of teacher-focused capacity-building interventions in both school and out-of-school settings, ultimately helping to promote adolescent mental health and creating a supportive educational ecosystem.

4. Capacity Building for Parents

Engaging parents in adolescent-focused interventions is a critical but often challenging endeavor. Many parents juggle multiple priorities, face time constraints, and hold traditional beliefs that can make it difficult to address sensitive topics. Despite these challenges, parental involvement is vital as it significantly influences adolescents’ attitudes and behaviors.

Under this program, we have taken proactive steps to engage parents by launching both online and offline interventions. Offline, we collaborated with schools to organize capacity-building workshops for parents, utilizing events like Parent-Teacher Meetings (PTMs), annual functions, and report card days to maximize participation. These workshops encouraged parents to explore not only academic concerns but also the emotional, mental, and physical health of their children. By delving into topics such as stress management, resilience-building, and life skills, parents were empowered with strategies to support their children in overcoming adolescent challenges.

5. Online Resource, Activities and Engagement

Under the Student Mental Well-Being Program, we are developing a comprehensive mental well-being resource for teenagers across India. This initiative is being implemented through TeenBook, India's leading resource for all things teen, providing a one-stop platform for mental health support and life skills. Our goal is to offer adolescents a safe and accessible space to explore topics related to mental well-being, mental health, growing up tackling academic stress to peer pressure, and equip them with the tools to manage their emotional and psychological well-being.

This resource includes bilingual content in Hindi and English, ensuring that it reaches a diverse range of young people across the country. Through interactive articles, stories, and workshops, we provide educational and practical content that empowers adolescents to understand their emotions, cope with challenges, and build resilience.

In addition to written resources, we offer confidential support through our Instagram platform, where trusted figures provide personalized advice on issues like school stress, relationships, and emotional difficulties. This direct support allows teenagers to seek help in a safe, confidential environment, helping to break down barriers and reduce stigma around mental health.

Our initiative continues to grow by producing engaging and relatable content that resonates with young people, fostering an open dialogue about mental well-being with adolescents across India. We use social media tools and digital platforms to ensure that our message reaches more teens every day, promoting mental well-being, self-care practices, and emotional resilience among adolescents across India. Through this comprehensive resource, we are making mental well-being support more accessible, ensuring that teenagers have the resources they need to thrive emotionally and mentally.

6. Building Capacity of School Leadership

Regular meetings with school leadership are integral to ensuring the alignment and sustainability of the Student Mental Well-Being Program. These ongoing interactions allow for continuous collaboration between TeenBook and the school’s leadership team, ensuring that the mental well-being program is well-integrated into the school's overall health and education objectives. By fostering clear communication and understanding, these meetings help ensure that mental health initiatives like well-being screenings and workshops in schools complement the school’s broader educational goals, creating a more holistic approach to student development.

The involvement of school leadership in these discussions fosters a deeper commitment to the well-being of students, creating a balance between academic priorities and the mental health needs of the students. These regular touchpoints provide an opportunity to address any challenges, adjust strategies, and ensure that resources are allocated effectively. Leadership’s active participation also ensures that mental well-being becomes a priority within the school community, encouraging a supportive and caring environment for both students and educators. This collaborative approach helps build a sustainable framework for the program, promoting long-term success and positive outcomes for all students involved.

7. Developing Offline and Online Spaces for promoting mental well-being for young people

Promoting mental well-being in schools requires creating environments where both students and teachers can openly discuss and prioritize mental health. The program is designed to foster such spaces, ensuring that students, teachers, and parents understand the importance of mental well-being and have the resources to support one another. The Student Mental Well-Being Program extends beyond traditional school-based interventions by organizing various offline and online activities aimed at promoting mental well-being among young people. These initiatives are designed to provide diverse opportunities for engagement, self-reflection, and learning, encouraging young people to prioritize their mental health in an open and supportive environment.

As part of this initiative the program has organized workshops across Delhi, Bihar, and Uttarakhand for teachers to enable them in creating a supportive learning environment. The workshops include practical tools and strategies to help teachers manage their own workload, student expectations, and personal challenges. These workshops have equipped teachers with coping mechanisms but also emphasized the importance of self-care and emotional resilience in the teaching profession.

In addition to the workshops, we are also leading online conversation on mental well-being to share experiences, challenges, and strategies around managing mental well-being for students as well as and raise awareness about available resources

To foster creativity and self-expression among students, the program is also organising creative spaces centered on mental well-being where students are encouraged to express their emotions and thoughts through art forms like painting, sculpture, and digital media. The goal is to create safe spaces offline and online for young people to reflect on their mental health and express their feelings without judgment.

Additionally, the program also offers a confidential support system via Instagram on Teenbook’s handle, where Disha, a trusted figure, provides advice on challenges like school stress, relationships, and peer pressure. This initiative allows teenagers to seek personalized support anonymously, creating a safe space for them to express their feelings and receive expert guidance on mental health.

8. Expanding mental well-being to small towns

Through our work in Bihar, we are bringing mental well-being support to adolescents, parents and teachers in small towns, marginalized communities, and rural areas, where access to resources on mental and emotional growth is often limited. Many young people in these regions face significant barriers when it comes to seeking help for mental health issues, making it difficult for them to navigate the challenges of growing up, including academic pressure, peer relationships, and emotional well-being. For the first time, parents and teachers in these areas are realizing that mental health and emotional development are just as important as academic success, and that addressing these issues can significantly impact young people's overall well-being.

To address this gap, our program conducted mental well-being workshops for students, discussions with parents, and training for teachers across schools in three districts — Khagaria, Jehanabad, and Nawada of Bihar, regions where students in government schools often face neglect in terms of mental health support. In these areas, the need for mental well-being resources, especially during the crucial phase of adolescence, is frequently overlooked, leaving many young people without the necessary tools to navigate emotional and psychological challenges as they grow.

The workshops for students focused on helping adolescents understand their emotions, manage stress, and develop coping strategies for challenges such as exam pressure and peer relationships. Through discussions with parents, we aimed to increase awareness of the importance of emotional well-being and equip them with strategies to support their children. Teacher training emphasized the role of educators in recognizing mental health challenges and fostering a supportive environment for students.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. For many students, these workshops provided the capacity building they had never received on emotional and mental growth, offering a sense of empowerment that will aid them on their journey to a happy, healthy adulthood.

Program Impact 2024

In 2024, the Student Mental Well-Being Program launched in Delhi and in Bihar to simultaneously cater to both urban as well as rural adolescents and create data and evidence as well as provide support to adolescents with varying needs and contexts.

Through its screenings, workshops and other activities , the program has engaged over 3,000 adolescents thus far, helping them understand mental well-being, learn skills on managing their well being including emotional management, stress management, and coping with challenges like exam pressure and peer relationships.

1. Screenings

The mental well-being screenings were rolled out in 28 schools across Delhi, covering a total of 896 students. Detailed reports were generated for each child, and at-risk students were provided with psychological first aid, consultation with their parents, and referrals to further support and resources. These screenings were conducted in low-resource schools in Delhi’s economically marginalized north-east district, where schools often lack the capacity to offer such support to children.

Of the 896 students screened this academic year:

26.58% reported having suicidal thoughts at least once
22% sought urgent support
8.33% considered harming others at least once
8.67% expressed dissatisfaction with life

Additionally, nearly 66.3% of students were categorized as having mild risks, facing various well-being challenges.

The comprehensive data from the screening is being put together in a comprehensive research paper in which DC will make a compelling case for well-being screenings to be integrated into school-based health monitoring as early warning mechanisms that would provide opportunities for timely interventions for students at risk.

2. Student Workshops

The first of two capacity-building interventions for students in the form of an interactive workshop titled ‘Understanding Mental Well-Being’ was organised for students in classes 7 and 8 in Delhi and Bihar.

This workshop reached 1,248 students across 25 schools in Delhi and 1,992 adolescents across 19 schools in Bihar.

Through interactive activities, discussions, and practical exercises, the workshop aimed to help adolescents understand various components of mental well-being, develop their capacity to understand emotions, manage adversity, build resilience, and seek support when needed. The pre- and post-evaluation surveys show significant improvements in understanding mental well-being, reducing stigma, and building knowledge on how to manage mental health:

95% increase in students in Bihar who reported an improvement in their understanding of mental well-being. In Delhi, this increase was 48.9%.
94.9% increase in students in Bihar who reported improvement in knowledge about how to improve and manage well-being. In Delhi, the increase was 38.7%.
73.5% increase in students in Bihar who said they will seek help when in a difficult situation. In Delhi, the increase was 33.6%.
94% increase in students in Bihar who felt their capacity to cope with stress and difficult situations would improve with the knowledge gained. In Delhi, this increase was 20.6%.
82.5% increase in students in Bihar who changed their perception of seeking help as a sign of weakness. In Delhi, this increase was 19.9%.

Towards the end of 2024, workshops were also rolled out to build the capacity of parents in Delhi and Bihar. The data from these workshops is being compiled and the results from these workshops will be shared on this page.

3. Online Impact

TeenBook media platforms have rolled out over 150 resource materials on mental well-being. This includes 63 articles on the TeenBook website and 101 social media creatives and posts. The content covers a wide range of well-being topics for adolescents, focusing on general capacity building as well as addressing their specific needs. The article on how to handle one’s emotions has resonated the most with young people, garnering nearly 100,000 reads, followed by the one on how to talk to parents. On social media, content related to setting boundaries, self-awareness, acknowledging poor mental well-being, and anxiety has gained significant audience engagement. TeenBook content is also being shared in schools as a follow-up resource after workshops. As of January 2025, the TeenBook website content on mental well-being has recorded 1.23 million user sessions, while its social media content has reached 1.1 million users, generating over 2.3 million pageviews.

These results demonstrate that the program has made a meaningful impact on adolescents' understanding of mental well-being and their willingness to seek help when needed, helping to break down stigma and encouraging healthy emotional development.

Future Plans and Directions

Looking ahead, we have outlined several key initiatives to ensure the continued success and expansion of the program. These efforts will focus on extending the program’s reach, improving accessibility, and creating sustainable systems to support adolescent mental well-being across India.

1. Empowering schools to run the program independently

To ensure the long-term success of the program and its ability to run independently, we plan to train two educators in each participating school to take on the role of School Mental Well-Being Leads. These leads will be responsible for conducting workshops and ensuring the program’s continuity for future student cohorts. By June 2026, we plan to integrate this issue fully into the schools, enabling them to manage and sustain the program without external support.

2. Developing a digital mental well-being screening app

To enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of mental well-being screenings, we propose the development of a digital solution in the form of an app. The app will allow students to self-screen, generate personalized reports, and provide schools with data analytics to inform their mental health strategies. This initiative, though not within the current program’s scope, will be fully developed and rolled out between 2028-2030 as we secure additional resources and funding. The app will also introduce centralized screening tools, enabling schools to identify at-risk students early and offer targeted support, ensuring a more holistic approach to mental health care.

3. Establishing a community-based counseling

For students who are identified as medium to high risk, we plan to establish a community-based counseling network to provide ongoing mental health support. This network will offer sustained counseling and care, ensuring that vulnerable students have access to the help they need. While the development of this network will require further investment of both time and financial resources, we aim to implement this initiative between 2028-2030, contingent on securing the necessary funding. We are actively gathering evidence and building support to move this forward.

4. Expanding the program to new regions and schools

As part of our long-term vision, we aim to expand the program’s reach to new regions and schools, increasing its impact on adolescent mental well-being across India. By extending the program to underrepresented areas, we hope to provide mental health support to even more students, particularly in rural and underserved communities.

5. Strengthening online resources

We will continue to build and strengthen our online resources on TeenBook.in, expanding the mental health section with articles, videos, podcasts, and social media content in both English and Hindi. This will ensure that adolescents across India can access valuable resources on mental well-being anytime and anywhere.

6. Policy recommendations and research

Based on the data collected from our pilot programs, we will advocate for the integration of mental well-being screening as part of health checks at schools. We will use the data from our program pilot to advocate for this integration.

These initiatives are designed to expand the program’s impact and ensure that mental well-being remains a priority for both schools and communities. Through these efforts, we aim to create a lasting support system for adolescents across India, empowering them to navigate their mental health challenges and lead healthier, more resilient lives.