More and more youngsters nowadays have a tendency to bottle up emotions till a point when they no more can handle it and break down. They assume that they have no place to go because people judge them and label them as weak, call them failures, crazy and what not.
Addressing mental turmoil is extremely important, because life is important, every individual is important. It’s tough to survive in this highly competitive world but ending lives or causing harm to oneself is not the answer. Youngsters need to know that there are people out there who will listen to them and help them to get out of the situation.
Having had a disturbed past, Aitijya Sarkar, founded The Wall and Us, an online portal for those who feel lonely, lost and want someone to listen to them. So at The Wall and Us you can share your stories, experiences, feelings, grief and happiness, and someone will listen to you without judging you. “Here, you don’t talk to random people, but to friends who will try their best to make you feel better,” he says.
He explains that while he was going through a rough patch in life he went to several health experts and therapists but what he really needed was a friend who would listen to him while he let out his emotions. This is the reason he decided to start The Wall and Us — to help others going through a similar situation.
At The Wall and Us, you can talk to a listener, who is not a therapist but an individual who’ll listen to you without judging you in real time. You can share your story anonymously and the platform will help you reach someone who has gone through the same experience or is going through one. Or you can also start a thread anonymously in The Safe Haven if something is going through your head right now and The Wall and Us will ask the community to reach out and offer you insight and advice.
Sarkar explains that the platform offers an alternative therapy where volunteers spend time to listen to those who have no one else to speak to and what they are going through. He explains that they have heard stories of rape, abuse, trauma, and also sexual identity crisis, to name a few. The idea was to give space on the internet and help individuals feel comfortable and be true to themselves, and be appreciated and loved for who they truly are.
Nobody should have to pay to speak to a friend, which is the reason the website is free for all. “The Wall and Us was started with one simple goal — no one should go through what I went through and no one should suffer alone,” says Sarkar. The idea was to give you a friend when one doesn’t have any real ones around them.
Sarkar explains that the primary purpose of the platform is to give people a place to connect. “If you want people to open up and share things with you, you first have to create a safe haven for them,” he says, adding that on the website they want to create a collection of countless stories and human emotions that can help people and make them understand that they are not alone and that people out there in the world suffer from similar problems if not the same ones.
“No matter how you are feeling there is someone out there who has had similar experiences or going through a similar phase, and probably if the two get together they could help each other get out of the situation,” says Sarkar adding, “In this case even happy memories are accepted because they will surely make someone else’s day and bring a smile to their face,” he says which is the reason he encourages people to share their stories.
Sarkar says that in a country where mental health is still a taboo and not many people talk about it he would like to urge the youth to come forward and help and address the situation. “We need to accept that people are battling with mental issues and we need to help them as much,” he says adding that people who are interested in becoming volunteers for The Wall and Us can keep themselves updated with the news that they keep posting on the website.
