Empathy can light the way for mental health patients, says Bani Singh of Now&Me

There is, unfortunately, a stigma associated with anything related to mental health. Which makes it all the more critical that one recognises effective mental-health initiatives, and works to eliminate the hurdles placed to prevent these programmes from treating mental disorders in a positive and constructive manner. With this in mind in 2019, Bani Singh and Drishti Gupta came up with Now&Me, an initiative that offered a way out for those suffering from any form of mental illness. Now&Me's website and app, which focuses on creating a peer-to-peer community, are designed to assure people that there is light at the end of the tunnel, by providing them with much-needed empathy.

Here’s an exclusive interview with Bani Singh, Co-Founder, Now&Me where she answers to certain questions regarding the same:

Q1) Tell us about Now&Me and how it came into being?

Now&Me came into existence in 2019 to help young adults tackle their mental health better. Our first prototype was designed in 2019, post which Drishti and I, further fine-tuned the application with the help of Nitesh Kumar Niranjan, who joined us as the tech co-founder in 2020. Our prime focus with Now&Me is to build it as a peer-to-peer community application where people can express whatever they are feeling without having the burden of being judged or looked down upon. We want to create a close-knit community that's always rooting for and supporting each other.

Q2) Is this platform designed keeping GenZ and millennials in mind or is it for everyone?

As of now, a bulk of our users come from the GenZ and Millennial crowds, so we're factoring their needs the most as we build further. However, the platform is open to all and we're trying to cater to everyone's needs because everyone can benefit from a community this warm.

Q3) How are you enabling people to address the not-so-talked about mental health issues? Why should someone opt for this platform over reaching out to a therapist?

We as a platform don't suggest that people should opt for Now&Me over therapy. Our basic philosophy is about developing a rich community environment where people suffering from mental health issues can interact with one another and help each other to grow. We believe that having a group of people rooting for you can accelerate emotional healing and do wonders for one's mental health. However, we do understand that therapy has its own importance and is irreplaceable in certain cases, so we push our users to seek therapy if they think they need it. Additionally, who knows, we might give you the best of both worlds really soon!

Q4) Share some of the positive developments the brand has witnessed recently?

We’ve launched our 1:1 chat feature and it has already led to 1million+ messages being exchanged in less than 3 months. It’s really heartwarming to see strangers support each other and find belongingness in a community. Overall, Now&Me is currently at 40,000 active monthly users and over 1 Million plus monthly page views and is expected to grow with time.

Q5) The biggest challenge you’ve faced from inception till now and how have you coped with it?

Moderating content and communication is always a big challenge as it has to be executed in a manner that doesn’t restrict expression. We have a setup of trigger warnings, report systems, and a dedicated team that constantly moderates the platform to ensure that nothing demeaning goes onto the forum. Our dedicated moderation team reads and reviews any and all thoughts posted on the platform to ensure safety while giving users the space to be real and talk about what they're feeling.

Q6) Talk about some of the brand’s upcoming expansion as well as other plans?

We want to create a whole ecosystem of awareness and free flowing conversations about mental health, where people can interact with like minded people and also engage services of leading therapists and psychologists. This is currently in the development phase along with an Artificial Intelligence tool that will automate the process of moderation for more accurate results. By spreading information and services in a responsible manner we want to change the lives of our users for the better.

(Brand Desk Content)