Q1. How did you begin your journey in the Health & Wellness Industry? Or Who/What inspired you to start this business/ entrepreneurship?...
Q1. How did you begin your journey in the Health & Wellness Industry? Or Who/What inspired you to start this business/ entrepreneurship?
After completing my masters in counseling psychology in 2010, I started working in a school and I understood that there is a lack of awareness in the field of mental health and very few appropriate counseling centers in Mumbai. My colleagues and I decided to start a center and called it 'Insight
Counselling Services' (ICS). While we undertook
small projects under Insight (ICS), I also worked with a few NGOs, schools
and one of the Topmost Institutes of Social Sciences in Mumbai for almost two years. This
gave me the required confidence and further training to deal with individual
cases with full confidence.
Q2. Kindly share about your Business/profession,
products and services.
Insight Counselling Services LLP, has been
providing mental health counselling for more than a decade and has been
felicitated on various occasions. We provide psychological based
counselling for issues like stress, depression, violence, grief, trauma, relationship
concerns, to name a few. We provide counselling and
career guidance support to children with help of personality, ability and
interest tests. For the corporate sector, we are
providing psychometric tests for recruitment and managerial level tests
along with counselling and various workshops on mental health topics. We also provide evaluating truthfulness and
credibility assessment for corporates. We
also undertake projects like reality shows, movie consultation, and workshops
for children working on various movies, TV serials etc.
Q3. How do your products/services stand out
differently from others available in the market?
Insight Counselling Services LLP,
has been providing mental health counselling for more than a decade and has
been felicitated on various occasions. We have clients associated with us
for more than eight years. We
believe in providing ethical and quality services to our clients and we are available 24x7 for our clients.
Q4. What type of challenges did you face while starting/doing business?
At the beginning we faced lots of
resistance from people to take our services but now the awareness has increased
therefore, we have clients visiting us on a regular basis. Yes, people hesitate to visit a psychologist due to the stigma and
discrimination that people have towards mental health issues, but believe me,
it is very important to visit a psychologist on regular basis for your mental
health just as you visit your family doctor for your physical health.
Q5. Kindly share about your discovery period when
you were facing challenges in your business?
The biggest challenge was lack of awareness and stigma attached towards mental
health fields. We discovered people care for their children’s mental
health but ignore their own. During the challenging period the biggest
discovery for me was my self-work which gave birth to two of my books “I am a
miracle being” and “ABC of Mental Health”.
Q6. Kindly share a few of your experiments you did
based on your discovery to overcome those challenges?
We planned various awareness campaigns like a Walkathon with the Psychology department of one of the best Colleges in Mumbai.
We provided free talks on mental health first aid in Government schools. I have
personally been on radio, given newspaper interviews emphasising on mental
health awareness. We have also created online and social media awareness
campaigns to break the stigma attached to mental health. It was surprising to see how people were not aware
of who a psychologist is and what is the difference between a psychologist and
a psychiatrist. This is also because there is no awareness created about the
importance of mental health and psychology in general at schools. Thus,
children grow up listening and believing what people have to say about these
topics which may not be the right information.
Q7. What would be your future contributions to the Health & Wellness
Industry that would eventually make a difference to humankind?
My team and I are working on providing a holistic approach for our
clients and moving towards providing online training and creating an online
platform for people to receive mental health services at the comfort of their
homes. We are also creating various training, coaching and mentoring programs
for budding professionals. Eventually, the aim
is to help people understand the importance of mental health so that they
can live an
overall healthy life.
Q8. What changes do you anticipate in the Health & Wellness Industry
in the next five years?
Hoping for more awareness amongst people about mental wellness along
with physical wellness. Health and wellness industry have a huge scope and I
expect a legal body to be created where licensed and trained professionals are
identified for providing appropriate service to the people.
Q9. What would be your advice/suggestion to new Wellness professionals
who want to start and sustain in the business?
Do what you feel right, trust your instincts and
believe in yourself, believe in your uniqueness and provide good service.
Q10. LinkedIn profile URL link
Q11. Facebook profile URL link
Q12. Twitter profile URL link
Q13. Instagram profile URL link
Q14. Personal blog URL link
Q15. Company website & Company blog URL link
Q16. YouTube channel URL link
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Interviewed by : Khushboo Chotaliya - Co-Founder of Sanskari Decor from Mumbai, India.
Referred by : Chirag Mer - Founder of Curated Holidays from Mumbai, India.
Published by : Dr.Prachi Ambolkar - Consulting Clinical Dietitian from Navi Mumbai, India.
Both Khushboo and Dr.Prachi are students of Yogesh M.A.'s InfluencerThon - Digital Influencers Academy.
Kindly Follow Khushboo here : instagram.com/KhushbooBChotaliya
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