Harshitha Talasila ’26 (left) and staff at Sri Durga Malleswara Siddhartha Manila Kalasala—an all women’s college in Vijayawada, India—pose with course materials after the first session. There were approximately 200 students in attendance for the first session.
By Fiona Dosanjh, E&I Summer Marketing Intern
The importance of mental health isn’t widely known or recognized in India. But one 51Թ senior is working to change that.
Harshitha Talasila ’26 was selected as a Projects for Peace Fellow this year and is currently working with Young Indians (Yi) Chapter in Amaravati, India. (Between 2023–2025, she and Marie York ’26 co-led SoilSoul, a TIA campus venture aiming to implement large-scale composting solutions for 51Թ and the greater Hamilton community.)
The Projects for Peace program was founded by Kathryn W. Davis in 2007 and involves more than 125 students each year. Talasila shared that “the program empowers … students each year to turn bold, community-driven ideas into action. It challenges us to ask: What does peace look like? And more importantly — how can we help build it?”
Talasila and Yi Amaravati are currently hosting workshops in high schools and colleges on topics such as mental health and substance abuse. “Mental health is important to our overall well-being, but the topic isn’t widely known or recognized in India. Mental health is still widely stigmatized and considered taboo, with the treatment gap for individuals who are struggling being an estimated 85 percent,” Talasila said.
Because of this, Amravati and Talasila have partnered to design “more effective programming on mental health for students” across Amravati, Vijayawada, Guntur, and the surrounding regions. Due to an overwhelming response from schools and colleges, the pair offers one large workshop at each location. “So far, we’re looking at 14 schools and colleges with approximately 4,500 students where we’re doing outreach,” Talasila said. The workshops focus on mental health and drug-use prevention.
A psychologist, Dr. Meena Medikonda, is also working with them.
“She participates in the workshop,” Talasila said. “Following the workshop, she spends about 30–45 minutes having one-on-one time to help students better understand mental health, addiction, substance abuse, and other problems they may be facing. This allows them to bring up any sensitive questions or concerns privately, but is also a resource for students to ask about her work and what she does.”
They are collecting feedback to ensure that future programs are the most effective they can be.
Talasila introduces the workshop to get the students excited, facilitates ice-breaker activities — in order for her and the team to better understand the students’ knowledge of mental health and substance abuse — and shares definitions and some examples before Medikonda presents. “Together, we cover what mental health and substance abuse are, how to manage stress, and how to help individuals in distress,” Talasila said.
The hope is that the program will continue to grow. A couple of colleges have expressed interest in another session of the workshop, and nearby chapters of YI have also expressed interest in joining the project.
Talasila’s overall assessment? “The summer has been going great so far. I’m thrilled with the responses we’re getting and can’t wait to see where this will go.”