Vandrevala Foundation

The Vandrevala Foundation is an NGO established by Cyrus Vandrevala and Priya Vandrevala in 2008. In 2009, it established the "Mental Health - India" initiative to raise awareness for and provide services to mentally ill or emotionally distressed individuals. Priya Vandrevala's father is Niranjan Hiranandani.
The organisation operates multiple crisis hotlines in key Indian cities with the collaboration of Emmanuel Hospital Association, St Stephen's Hospital Delhi and the Mar Thoma Church. Its efforts have been noted by the media.
The Jeevan Aastha Helpline is an initiative by the Gandhinagar Police department to provide telephonic counselling to emotionally distressed individuals across India. The helpline can be reached via the number 1860-266-2345, or through the alternate toll free number 1800-233-3330.
History.
The Vandrevala Foundation's charitable activities include mental health care, has in year 2014 had submitted a plan to the Maharashtra government to improve services in mental health institutions in state. This is in response to a published report of World Health Organization(WHO) which placed India as being in top in the world for suicides. As per foundation's report India had 43 mental health hospitals and all being established before 1947 and many of them are in such a bad shape for people with mental illness to visit and seek guidance. World Health Organization(WHO) in its report estimated that out of 8,04,000 suicides in the world in year 2012 around 2,58,000 are from India(99,997 women and 1,58,098 men) and the highest rate being seen among people aged between 15 years to 29 years. Report claims India's suicide rate was 21.1 per 1,00,000 people. The foundation has also entered into an agreement with the Director General of Shipping in India to serve as the official mental health pipeline for Indian sailors and their families around the globe. The "Mental Health-India" initiative was launched in 2009 by the Vandrevala Foundation established by London-based billionaire couple Priya Hiranandani-Vandrevala and Cyrus Vandrevala (who are originally from Mumbai). One of the objectives of initiative is to prevent possible attempts of suicide by providing advice and assistance in Hindi,Marathi,Gujarati and English. Helplines had been created and started as topmost priority as many individuals don't get support or help. In five years since its launch the foundation had handled 60,000 cases.
A recent study by University of Oxford concluded that serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and recurrent depression reduces life expectancy by about seven to 20 years-a loss of years which is equivalent to or worse than that for heavy smokers. One of the doctors of foundation,Dr John,says the foundation addresses entire spectrum of mental health issues-from anxiety and depression through to schizophrenia and suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. He also reiterated that although mental health problems and illnesses are disorders of the brain many people consider them as a 'character flaw' or a 'personal weakness' or even 'demonic possession', and as a result majority of people with mental health problems won't seek help for fear of being labeled negatively."
Hiranandani-Vandrevala further elaborated that when Cyrus and herself decided on making mental health a focal point for their Foundation,they were not aware of the gravity of situation and how mental illness can have an effect on life expectency of people. However the study from University of Oxford has highlighted this issue.
Operations in cities.
The Vandrevala Foundation operates its helplines in the following cities: