How complicated is the human mind really?
It’s entirely ours, yet most of us cannot control it completely, can we? The plethora of thoughts and emotions that come and go every single day is beyond any formula, almost like the next shell that washes ashore with the waves. Expected but unpredictable! Most of us go about life dealing with the crest and trough of these emotions while for some, life depends on how well they can cope with these fluctuations. Talking to near and dear ones, sharing what is going on in this complex system housed inside our heads is important! Mental health is important! Professionals such as Shobhika Jaju are important.
Born and brought up in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 31-year-old Shobhika Jaju is a symbol of positivity. Her thousand watt smile and zest for life are both visible every time you meet her. A conservative upbringing by the banks of the River Ganges gave her the wings to fly out of home when she was just 17. With a mind that was apprehensive of settling down on just one thing, Jaju has certainly settled down in Goa in more ways than one. From moving to a new city after her marriage to becoming a mother to identifying with one professional label for the last eight years, she sure knows where she is headed… settling in to a life where she encourages people to open up and talk to her about their mental health.
Jaju has a Master’s in Clinical Psychology, along with being a Certified Career Counsellor and a Certified Queer Affirmative Practitioner. Today she runs Silver Linings, a guidance and counselling centre dealing with all kinds of emotional, behavioural, career and academic concerns. She also teaches at the Parvatibai Chowgule College in Margao and is associated with Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
Ask her how she got into this and she says, “It’s not that I always wanted to be a psychologist, but I did want to be one since I was 13. There were transgressions towards other careers when I was much younger and even during grad years, but a part of me was convinced that this is what I know best and wanted to do. So after finishing my studies in 2012, I went to Calcutta for a short while and juggled three different jobs, all in the field of psychology. Then I got married and moved to Goa in 2013.”
Moving to Goa was nothing like Jaju had ever imagined. After having lived in two of the country’s biggest metropolitan cities, life in the sunshine state seemed depressingly slow for her. Over time though, she made friends, got involved in the family business and tried to find her feet. Some of the people she met were from the field of Psychology, who mentored and encouraged her to start something of her own. Eventually, a day before her birthday in 2015, Silver Linings was born with one single aim, to prioritise mental healthcare in Goa. It has taken the best part of five years but today she has moved on from being a one-woman show to a team of around seven, ensuring mental well-being and counselling for various people across the state.
“We have catered to approximately 3,000 people through our sessions at the clinic, workshops and the various community outreach programs that we conduct from time-to-time. We have undertaken sessions on mental health well-being with the South Goa Police at the initiative of Crocs and Cops and with the medical fraternity of South Goa in a talk organised by the IMA-South Goa branch. All these talks and seminars have a different topic but the underlying agenda remains to assist everyone to prioritise their mental health,” she says.
For a mother of a two-year old handling a full time clinic with a bunch of other professional and social commitments, time seems to be a mere concept which just transcends from one day to another. Even if it is difficult, Jaju tries to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Ask her if she gets affected at an emotional level due to the work she does and she says, “Of course I do, just like anyone else would. That’s the thing about being a psychologist; you get used to a life where you are going to hear in first-person, things which others have only read about or heard through hearsay and you have to keep all of it confidential. Instead of getting emotionally upset, I find myself learning from every story, every experience shared by all those courageous people who made that effort to open up and talk. I just love my job! Which other career would allow you to interact with people from so many different walks of life? There is so much to learn every single day.”
Today, her life is divided into compartments. She practices, teaches, is a hands-on mother, writes for various publications and has what she claims is a somewhat decent social life. “Some compartments of this life gather dust at times, but the child and the clinic always are and will be a priority. Even though I feel nostalgic about the life spent over the years in Varanasi, Mumbai and Kolkata, Goa is where the heart resides and I would not call any other place home.”
In a country like ours, seeking mental health care is not easy; primarily because of the inaccessibility of trained professionals and mostly because of the strong societal stigma associated with it. When an individual decides to overcome these barriers and seek counselling, psychologists such as Jaju have to handle each case delicately and make the process extremely smooth. In this current lockdown scenario, Jaju has started a WhatsApp group, focusing on building emotional resilience. People from all over the country and some from outside have been participative in this group.
If any of you reading this aren’t feeling great mentally or if you think you could do better with some counselling, please do not hesitate to come out and talk about it. Find a loved one or look up a professional such as Jaju and get in touch. She can be contacted on silverliningsgoa.com.
