From Community to Care: Veteran Journalist Ritu Bhardwaj Launches

At a time when more than one billion people globally are living with mental health conditions, Connected Minds, a community-led mental health ecosystem founded by veteran journalist Ritu Bhardwaj, has launched its integrated web and mobile application platform to expand access to early emotional support and professional care across India. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), anxiety and depression are now among the leading causes of long-term disability worldwide, underscoring the urgent need for scalable, mental health solutions.

WHO data further highlights the severity of the crisis: mental health conditions affect people across age groups and income levels, with women disproportionately impacted. Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death among young people globally, claiming an estimated 727,000 lives in 2021. Amid this reality, Connected Minds has evolved from a grassroots support community into a structured digital platform. What began seven years ago as safe, moderated conversations around emotional wellbeing has grown organically into a 10,000-member community, built on trust, lived experience, and peer support. Rather than starting with technology, Connected Minds was shaped by real human need validating the belief that meaningful mental health care must begin at the community level before it can scale.

The platform is the brainchild of Ritu Bhardwaj, a veteran journalist whose two-decade journey through newsrooms like ABP, Star News, Zee Studios and the BBC was always driven by a search for truth. Having worked on landmark projects like Satyamev Jayate and Zindagi with Richa, Ritu spent years documenting the complex intersections of gender, society, and human wellbeing for organizations like the UNDP and the documentary Please Arrest Me. However, her own experience with depression during pregnancy exposed the silence, stigma, and lack of accessible emotional support that many individuals face.

“After experiencing depression myself and witnessing how little support exists before people reach a breaking point, I realised storytelling alone wasn’t enough we needed accessible pathways to healing,” said Ritu Bhardwaj, Founder, Connected Minds. “Connected Minds represents 7 years of listening, learning, and building trust with our community. This platform transforms that grassroots movement into scalable impact through technology, without losing its human core.”

Today, the Connected Minds platform is designed to support individuals before distress escalates into crisis, with a strong emphasis on emotional handholding and continuity of care particularly in preventing suicide through early connection.

The platform enables users to:

1. Access mental wellbeing assessments and guided self-help tools that encourage early awareness and preventive care
2. Seek confidential video or audio consultations with qualified mental health professionals
3. Reach out for immediate guidance through crisis and SOS support features
4. Participate in structured wellbeing programmes for workplaces and educational institutions addressing stress, burnout, and emotional safety

Clinical oversight is led by Ms. Ashita Mathur, an experienced clinical psychologist specialising in mental health and corporate wellbeing, ensuring the platform’s offerings remain evidence-based, ethical, and compassionate. Connected Minds is further supported by an advocacy and advisory group that includes Richa Anirudh, Vijay Vikram Singh, Dr. Saroj Dubey, Dr. Ankur Sharan, and mental health professionals Rashmi Saha, Karishma Mehra, and Bharti Rakheja, bringing together voices from media, healthcare, and mental health practice to normalise conversations across social and professional contexts.

As India faces growing mental health needs and limited access to care, Connected Minds bridges awareness and action through community trust, clinical expertise, and technology. The launch formalises a people-first movement focused on timely, compassionate support before crisis escalates.

About Connected Minds: Connected Minds is India’s first journalist-founded mental health platform, offering stigma-free emotional support, early intervention, therapy access, and crisis handholding through its web and mobile application. Built on a 10,000+ member community and 18 months of platform development, it combines clinical expertise, technology, and storytelling to expand access to mental healthcare in India and beyond.

Website: https://connectedmind.in/