Mental Health Debate Moves To Kolkata Cafes As Adda Sessions Offer A Safe Space | Kolkata News – Times of India

Kolkata: For people struggling with depression and anxiety, informal public spaces like cafes that facilitate adda sessions are increasingly seen as a respite from mental health issues.
In 2017, corporate trainer and inspirational speaker. Souvik Biswas established a social mental wellness initiative called Tea Talkers, a platform where people of different ages with various mental health problems meet in cafes around the city to discuss their problems informally. “Our goal is to make mental wellness more prevalent among people and help them better protect themselves against debilitating bouts of insecurity. Anyone can join our sessions, however, not just those with mental health issues,” said Biswas.
Speaking of the relevance of cafes as an appropriate setting, biswas He said: “I noticed that people tend to spend several hours in cafes talking about personal problems with friends without being able to find the right solutions. At the same time, due to the stigma in our society of consulting mental health professionals, many of these issues are never addressed. The lively, informal atmosphere of the cafés helps facilitate these types of informal sessions where strangers can feel comfortable exchanging motivational and inspirational ideas.”
“While depression is ultimately an illness and therefore requires a formal diagnosis, I believe that these types of community programs should be explored as alternative methods of addressing mental health issues. After all, mental health is a culturally relative term, meaning different things to different people. There are numerous ways to approach problems, deviating from the Western model of individual therapy sessions. Since adda is an important facet of Kolkata culture, adda hubs as cafes can be meaningful places to explore ways to address mental health challenges,” said the sociology research scholar. raul ganguly.
Speaking about how cafes provide a sense of community between different age groups, Shilpa Chakraborty, co-owner of Tribe cafe, said: “The cafe hosts various workshops and sessions on wellness and mental health. I found that during these sessions, groups of strangers often form friendships that become a source of mutual support. People even make friends with the waiters. It is good that people from different backgrounds can form their own tribes out of mutual interest.”
English literature scholar Ipshita Chakraborty said that while Western cultures often focus on individualistic solutions to mental health problems, Asian and African cultures traditionally focus more on community-based responses, which can be equally effective. “Several adda spaces in Kolkata, such as beauty salons and roadside tea rooms, have acted as spaces for people to have conversations about their personal problems that give them a sense of well-being and relief. Meanwhile, in some African cultures, symptoms of depression are treated with the intervention of the entire community in the form of exorcisms. The fact that these solutions are not rooted in Western models does not necessarily make them less effective.