Eight Years In, Eight Lessons
Eight years ago, the Health Collective came to be, as an attempt to share credible information on Mental health and stories from an India lens.
It's been eight years since our first short blog went up, bringing the Health Collective to life. Here's my take on lessons learned via 8 bullet points.
By Amrita Tripathi
- We all have mental health. This was the big one I learned through interviews (including with the incredible Dr Vikram Patel back in the day). You can watch/ read that interview here . As he says, we are all guardians of our own mental health.
- Your biggest asset is your credibility. I sometimes think that it's the hardest thing to earn, and the easiest to lose. I started out as a journalist and it was the news-gathering, the day-to-day grind, then the anchoring and working my way to being a Health Editor (where you can bet we had to fight to get stories of mental health on the air), that taught me the most about story-telling and people. It's where I learned what credibility means, but that lesson really landed once I set up The Health Collective and realised it's at stake almost every day when you've set up your 'own thing'.
- You can't build anything this meaningful* entirely alone. From people who share their stories in text, verse, art forms and comics, to people who share their talent and life stories, to those who share their frustration and stress at mis-diagnosis, to those who joined our pilot therapist-facilitated Talking/ Listening circles on Grief and unbelievable loss... From those who helped with website development to printing our notebooks and merch, to our logo and design... From readers who come up to us and those who don't, to therapists who share of their time and content series... people with lived experience who connect on calls and chats and contribute to books and conversations in the hope that we make things easier for even one person out there. This is entirely your collective. I appreciate you. Not to mention my partner and patrons, advisors and supporters. 🌻 (*Subjective of course)
- All labour is meaningful labour. How you treat people is important. We've made it a point to always pay people as fairly and up-front and in as timely a fashion as possible. When we had a good source of revenue (syndication and book advances) we shared and paid it fwd, and when we didn't, we dipped into savings, and when we really ran out of that (and quit the day job), we had to pare back expenses. (Except for an incredibly wonderful and persistent intern or two.) Say no to exploitation and treat everyone with respect! (Note that we don't solicit or commission first person stories of lived experience as per our earliest advisor's advice)
- You don't owe anyone your story. (No, not even us). You don't have to perform your mental health (struggles and otherwise); you don't have to carry the burden of educating the world, or even advocating for you community. You don't have to, and you sometimes need your loved ones to remind you of this. Cut yourself slack, and let other people pick up the pace too.
- You cannot pour from an empty cup. This is self-explanatory, but we often need reminding. Most recently, a dear friend literally bought me a cup with this saying on it. My better half reminds me of this in not-so-many words, my family and friends and friends-like-fam are there when the cup runneth empty and when energy levels are low or even when I'm not sure how we keep this project going and relevant! I get reminders also from the doggo of a lifetime (and the universe through said doggo) to stay present, and also like... chill. Take a walk, sniff the roses (or plants as the case may be.)
- The folks and collaborations you say 'no' to are almost more important than who you say yes to. Early suggestions included tie-ups with Pharma companies, and continued all the way through brands who want some of that 'good' rub-off without doing the hard yards themselves, who couldn't care less about the community or hard work, and also can we not do all this for free and just use the 'added visibility' in lieu of payment? Uh.. a big N-O. Thank you! We also don't have ads enabled on our site. 🙏
- Learn how to pace yourself, when to quit, and how to ask for help and support. This is the toughest one and a serious work in progress. We aren't quitting yet, to be sure, but I'm making my peace with how we change (we basically no longer commission content since we don't have budgets). We are exploring potentially more meaningful partnerships for impact and I am definitely pacing myself.
On the note for support: You can support us via our Buy me a Coffee page or book some of the extra's on there. You can order merch or book workshops (email team@healthcollective.in for more info).
Celebrate our 8th anniversary with us! Share something that you have found inspiring about our journey or a story that resonated and connect on social! 💜
Normal programming resumes with a quick look back at what has been up and what's upcoming. Stay tuned for more!
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