Prachi Chitre

I would like my name to be displayed as I wish to do my bit to destigmatize mental health concerns.Overcoming my own anxiety, overconfidence and mainly the “log kya kahenge” feeling and  finally deciding to visit a therapist has been one of the best choices i have ever made.I call these as my mental wellbeing sessions.The significant reason about my mental well being sessions becoming so value adding, lucrative and above all, a very comforting experience is my counsellor Ms Prachi Chitre. I refer to her as “Prachi tai”. Someone who will never take the credit and boast about her work, but also someone who has helped me (and I am sure many like me) to transform literally every experience of my life. Be it my self esteem, my relationships, my career, financial management or my outlook towards life.She never simply tells me how to deal with JUST the existing issue, but rather helps me to channelize my thoughts in a way that I equip myself to deal with similar situations in future.Prachi tai to me is more a friend than my counsellor and here s  all my gratitude to her for helping me become what I am today.Ever since the day I began this to this day when I very proudly, confidently and sincerely recommend therapy or a simple connect with an expert to everyone out there, I have always had my mental well being sessions through a virtual platform like a phone call, Skype connect or sometimes simply a message conversation. The best part of online counselling is the fact that it is more accessible to anyone and everyone at any point in time unlike the era where one had to seek an appointment months prior, plan your day and make time for in-person visit, drive down to the counsellor s clinic or home or rather just drop the whole idea of a visit.Please shed away your inhibitions or over confidence about seeking psychological support and be kind to your mind....its okay to seek help, but make sure you are doing it from the right source (a mental health expert in this case) especially in today's scenario  when its so convenient  and just one phone call away.

I have always been an anxious kid. As a 8th grader things became tough, really tough. Over that I had a hard time expressing how I felt. It only made things worse. There was a period I wouldn't talk to anyone, my parents and my school teachers got extremely worried. For some reason I was extremely sad all the time. I couldn't explain why because I myself couldn't understand what was happening? I was sad about something, constantly. My mother saw that I needed help. That's when I met Dr. Prachi. She helped me address my feelings, helped me open up, about how I felt. She helped me understand what was happening to me and around me. And in no time I was showing signs of recovery. She helped me see what actually mattered in life and what didn't. Now things like these don't just go away. A wave of which came back when I was in 11th grade. But this time what she taught me helped me get out of it on my own. So what I learned was the way Dr Prachi had an impact in my life wasn't temporary, you tend to remember things about how she had helped you and then you go on and help yourself. Fast-forward to second year of university I have overworked myself because I expect too much, was having constant anxiety /panic attacks which affected my relationship with people around. It felt like hitting rock bottom. My old coping methods didn't work because I was different person than the 8th and 11th grader version of me. Prachi auntie was back to the rescue. Even though i couldn't meet her face to face, a phone call was enough. Even firefighters don't have such incredible response time during disasters. And believe me when I say this fire in my head was a big one. See when you see nothing but darkness, this phone call that I made to her, was the light that I was looking for. What I learnt was there are people who are there to help you, all you have to is talk to someone. And I haven't found anyone better than her. I'm grateful that I am and will be in touch with her for the rest of my life. I would also like my name to be displayed as I wish to do my bit to destigmatize mental health concerns.