Covid-19: Birla-backed foundation launches toll-free number for citizens

Hotline to offer support for individuals across Maharashtra

Mpower, a foundation that offers mental healthcare services, has partnered with Government of Maharashtra and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to launch a toll-free helpline number – 1800-120-820050 – with a view to offering support and a listening ear to citizens who may be needing help while coping with exigencies brought on by the Coronavirus epidemic and the related lockdown that the government has mandated across the country. 

The helpline is called ‘BMC-Mpower 1on1’ and will be available 24x7, and is available free of cost for people across cities of Maharashtra. The helpline will be supported by professional mental health counsellors, who are clinical psychologists and psychiatrists from Mpower  to provide mental healthcare counsel and support. 

The service is available in Marathi, Hindi and English to address any mental health concerns faced by citizens of Maharashtra. What's the biggest requirement for mental health at this stage for those in corporate world as they grapple with a new reality? "We are all in this together, this is the reality now," says Neerja Birla, founder of MPower. 

"For those in the corporate world who are trying to get adjusted with the new normal, it is definitely going to be challenging. Working people need to be cognizant of and take care of their mental health which is directly correlated to their physical health and productivity." Birla says that Mpower has also started online counseling with experts by Skype or Zoom.