Our Programs

SIHF specializes in arts-based therapeutic interventions and offers community programs using these. We view art as not only imitating but inspiring life, enhancing consciousness and eliciting difficult expressions with ease. Art manages to reach and connect with people on a level that formal learning or conversation might not. Engaging in any art in a group can also have a great positive influence on our mental health. SIHF conducts informal and engaging community interventions using dance, drama, visual arts and various other art forms. Through these, we aim at inviting people to seek counselling and therapy, disseminating information and facts in a creative and interactive way, creating awareness among the public about prevalent mental health issues like anxiety and depression and how psychotherapy can help, encouraging exploration of emotions, conflicts and self-image, and helping people who may not be able to access therapy to express and deal with psychological issues.

The millennial generation has witnessed a societal overhaul and a transformation of the familial and social fabric in the last few decades. They face unique challenges when it comes to psychological health, including loneliness, anxiety, depression, adjustment issues, relationship compatibility, identity crises and intensified work pressures. Young adulthood is a phase in which individuals are handling stress on all fronts, typically managing relationships, taking care of the young and the old in the family while taking on more responsibilities in their work.Secret Ingredient Health Foundation offers group therapy programmes designed for this population with expert psychologists providing creative arts therapy and counselling to groups facing similar issues. Group counselling helps clients form connections, learn from each other’s experiences, and feel a sense of camaraderie when they realise that they are not alone. Sessions may be generic or specially focused on one of the widespread problems like anxiety, stress, depression and others.  

SIHF conducts subsidized training and capacity building programs for psychologists and counselling professionals to hone their skills and add value to their tool-kits. In addition, we train first responders, especially social, community and healthcare workers, in psychological first aid. The programme teaches them the dos and don’ts of mental illness emergencies, recognition of symptoms of anxiety, depression and other psychological ailments, the significance and basics of counselling and therapy, and connects them to a network of psychologists willing to work with them. SIHF also conducts Mental Health Education programmes for the staff and students at schools, colleges and other community-based organisations.

As outlined in our mission, SIHF undertakes research into various psychotherapy and counselling interventions and making them affordable and accessible to everyone. Our research programs aim to cultivate research into creative arts-based therapy in India and put the outcomes into practice.

SIHF is an active part of the psychologist and therapist community striving to reach the remotest corners of the society with the positivity that therapy and counselling can bring. Mental health is an aspect often neglected and surrounded by myths in both the privileged and underprivileged. We work to bust these myths and spread knowledge to make people more aware. To achieve this goal, we organise mental health awareness campaigns, discussions and talks about the importance of therapy, the reality of mental illness, and practicalities such as finding the right psychologist, self-care for anxiety and depression, self-monitoring in counselling and therapy, and making informed evaluations of counselling services received.