Grow - Mental health startup smashing “taboo” in India

Grow, founded in India (2020), is a workplace mental health platform that empowers individuals, organisations and employees to measurably improve their mental wellbeing. At the heart of the platform, we are aiming to build the Grow Index — a clinically-backed assessment that helps people track and learn about their mental wellbeing. By capturing all the elements that are fundamental to your mental wellbeing — fulfilment, connection, sleep, coping, happiness, calmness and health — we empower individuals and employees to become more self-aware of their mental wellbeing journey, before suggesting content and resources based on their personal needs.

But also, by aggregating the anonymised data, we are helping people and employers understand the trends within their wellbeing, for them to then better support and mitigate against triggers and stressors.

“The Grow platform is built on the premise that prevention is better than cure.”

Founder’s view from Anoushka Adya: Over the years, we’ve seen how the conversation around mental health has shifted from one of stigma and negativity to one of action and aspiration — and this is in part due to an increased understanding and appreciation of our mental wellbeing.

During the pandemic we have witnessed first hand how the traditional approach to managing our mind is inadequate. With work culture changing and the world moving towards a more digital and remote world, human behaviour also has to adapt and we are here to hand hold people through these changes. 

The experiences with some of our early callers have shaped our approach to building our company: the Grow platform is built on the premise that prevention is better than cure and that we should all proactively manage our mental health — just like we do our physical health and well being. With all the lockdowns, insecurity and fear prevalent nowadays, the mental health crisis is something we cannot ignore. 

Top tip to founders: I can’t stress the importance of having a clear mission.

What’s next?  We are already reaching out to people all over the country via our toll free number and are now looking towards expanding our corporate efforts as organisations will find employees' mental well being an extremely important factor towards efficiency, productivity and retention. We are on a mission to improve the mental wellbeing of people around the country and to make a positive impact on people's lives. We want to be empowering every individual with expert support to improve their mental health, regardless of place and time.

We are also in the process of launching our app Grow which will be a sounding board that lets you talk about your problems with a stranger and work through your problems anonymously. It will serve as a mood boosting phone chat. 

The goal of the app will be to make users feel less stressed after their call, something that's especially of interest amid a global pandemic.   

Sometimes you feel alone and you want someone to talk to. So we thought, why don’t we develop an app that allows you to connect with a caring stranger? In light of the rising number of COVID-19 infections across the country, the app aims to also introduce "coronavirus" as a special topic, so that more users can talk to someone about their fears and insecurity which could be financial, emotional or physical.  

Website: http://www.growlabs.in/