Antar Community #5

something new 💫 mental health & Diwali 🪔

Author

Vidhi Raval
October 29, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

hello there! 🌸 

The Washinton Post covered Diwali - WHAT?! 🪔 I’m suddenly seeing posts about Diwali, dance, food - everywhere. I’m not complaining, I’m just happy and confused.

ALSO I have exciting news to share— as some of you know, I’ve been passionate about Mental Health x our Community, and I found a way to align the two.

Say hello to this BETA!

This letter has 3 parts:
1. Antar, in beta, 2. South Asian Feed, 3. IRL so far,
4. Big thoughts

A beta

😂 playing with what this means - culturally and literally ^

As a South Asian — have you ever struggled with your mental health? Or struggling to take care of yourself? Or know someone around you who does? Is anyone among your family, friends, or even peers?

Did you know? 📢

→ We struggle with our mental health, and struggle even more in asking for help - it’s proven

→ Culturally relevant therapy - works well for us. But access to this is hard! And knowledge about this work is harder too

→ We commonly experience psychological distress as physical symptoms

Statistics for South Asian Mental Health

And this is what we’re trying to solve with Antar, and we’re just getting started.

We’re providing care for South Asians, by South Asians by making it more affordable (1/4th the cost of therapy), language-first (therapists speak Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, and Telegu), and culturally relevant (they’re onboarded from the US, India, and Pakistan)

As someone who has struggled for years, I’m finally working toward a cause I’ve always wanted to, aligning my purpose and dreams.

We all need help from time to time. Find care as a desi here → www.antar.life (we are in beta now 📢)

if you’ve been looking for care or know someone who does, please share this with them!

We need more people talking about this. Share it with a friend or family member to make this Diwali easier for them 📢

I’ll share more about this journey along the way as I build! For now, help me with this BET, beta. 😂 (beta means child in Hindi for reference)

Logo - is it pretty?

South Asian Feed

Some save from my feeds over the past few weeks! Nothing is sponsored, I make 0 pennies off of this!

Is anyone down for Art and Paint this December? I have the best teacher who could teach us some pretty art with south asian themes! And we can sip some fall drinks! Will post on our IRL Whatsapp Group for more.

Big thoughts!

→ What does Diwali mean to you?

I asked myself this question and realized how much I resonated with this, an essay I relate to — I’m a Bad Hindu

I look forward to festivals like Holi and Diwali to express and celebrate my heritage, and actually pay attention to the stories my mom narrates during the ceremonies. While this is great, a lot of these changes have come from other, non-Indian people in my life, a fact that embarrasses me. After all, shouldn’t I know more about my own culture than other people? 

Celebrating Diwali or Halloween? Or both?

Spotify link above ^

When I started this pod, I thought it would be just a few people listening, recording, or willing to be guests. But the community has been so welcoming! So excited to take this to the next level!

South Asian Literature and Art Festival (happened exactly a month ago)

Antar was picked to exhibit! ❤️ 

There was Shashi Tharoor, Imtiaz Ali, Suvir Saran, Kausir Munir, Sahaj Kohli (below - my inspo!)….and so many more artists, authors, builders!

I hope you have the best Laddoos and the Pumpkin Spiced Lattes! 💫 

📢 Make someone’s day better and share about what’s available for their mental health

THANK YOU for reading through! see you soon!

Lots of love, Vi ❤️

Founder, CEO