In December 2020, Raj Vinayak Dagwar (24), a software engineer from Pune, came across an Instagram post that read: ‘Tell me your story and I will give you a dollar’. To Dagwar, it seemed like a genuine gesture to promote mental health awareness. He decided to share this post on his social media account, adding that he would be doing something similar the next day. As promised, Dagwar stood at a spot near his residence on the following day, holding a placard that read: ‘Tell me your story and I will give you `10’. This simple gesture inspired him to launch ‘Listeners Army’, an initiative by volunteers who serve as ‘listeners’ to hear strangers out without judgment. This on-ground activity aims to enhance mental health awareness.
Based on personal experience
To have the undivided attention of a person while openly expressing your thoughts to them without the fear of being judged is rare. Given how most of us are pressed for time of late, it is no surprise that patient listeners are difficult to find. “I wanted a listener but I could not find anyone who would listen to me without judging me,” admits Dagwar, who battled depression as a 21-year-old. “I did not reach out to my friend/s because I thought they would make fun of me. I did not share it with my parents because I thought they would shout at me. This prolonged my phase of depression. I realised if I had a listener at that time, I would have felt better… Like me, there are people who need listeners. So I decided to start this,” he adds.
The ‘Listeners Army’ project, which started in 2020, now has over 200 volunteers. It has also expanded to a number of cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Delhi. The volunteers are of the belief that everyone must have a patient listener who can lend an ear to their problems. “The larger goal of this initiative is that there should be at least one person, one Raj, you can talk to in every city without feeling like you’re being judged.”
People share their deepest thoughts with these volunteers. In case the ‘Listeners Army’ volunteers feels that a person might need to seek counseling, the team makes it a point to direct that individual to a network of psychologists and psychiatrists working pro bono with the group.
Lending an ear to listen
While the initiative is primarily based in Pune, the Delhi chapter was initiated by Ayush Tayal (18), a student at Trinity Institute of Professional Studies, Dwarka, in March this year. “I saw a reel by Raj and reached out to him. We talked about the cause and my motivation to be a part of the team. Raj was kind enough to help me. He trained me. Since then, I’ve been working on building a team in Delhi,” he shares. Volunteers from Delhi-NCR meet for about two hours at various spots in the city every Sunday. They hold placards in pursuit of lending an ear to someone in need.
We attended an on-ground activity at Connaught Place (CP) a week ago, wherein Disha Chauhan (22)—a volunteer from Gurugram—stood on the pavement near Palika Bazaar holding a placard. Chauhan was greeted by passers-by, one of them being Jigmet (19) from Saket, who gave Disha a tight hug. “I feel lonely these days. I hugged her because I needed one,” Jigmet shared. “It is no news that it is difficult to find someone with whom one can share their deepest thoughts. Not to generalise, but parents also are unable to help much. This is why an initiative like ‘Listeners Army’ is important,” mentioned Chauhan.
For many volunteers, the decision to be associated with this initiative has been motivated by personal experiences. “I come from a place where mental health is not considered important. When I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, my family criticised me, they wanted to take me to a baba [exorcist],” shares Jayant Garg (21), another volunteer from Noida who plans to pursue a career in psychology.
The idea of the ‘Listeners Army’ initiative goes beyond just giving hugs to strangers or providing support to people. The team is effectively raising awareness about mental health in India. During the CP visit, we met Piyush, Sadab, and Aamir, students from Badli, who stopped to engage in conversation with the volunteers. “This is a great initiative. It felt great to stop and speak to them,” concluded Sadab.