7.3% of India’s young population (18-29) have a diagnosable mental health condition (National Mental Health Survey, 2016). Moreover, suicide is the leading cause of death in this age group, with a total of 1,23,918 student suicides between 2014 to 2024 (National Crime Records Bureau). Despite the rising mental health concerns, fewer than 10% of young Indians can access appropriate, evidence-based mental health care. A survey conducted by UNICEF in 2021 reveals that only 41% young people feel that seeking support for mental health problems is necessary. This is a result of several factors such as unaffordability and unavailability of services, stigma related to mental health and suicides, and lack of youth friendly services. Further, youth often prefer and rely on informal sources of support, from friends, family and teachers.
How are we addressing the issue?
To bridge this care gap, this project aims to (1) develop, implement, and evaluate a college-based peer support program and (2) identify a sustainable, scalable model for implementation across higher education institutions.
The Integrated Peer Support Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Intervention is a pilot peer support program being implemented in over 50 colleges in Mumbai through the National Service Scheme (NSS) units of colleges. NSS volunteers are being trained as peer supporters to provide support for mental health concerns and thoughts of suicide. While the NSS Program Officers (POs) are trained to play the role of a mentor to provide mentoring and supervision to the peer supporters. The program is supported by YuWaah, UNICEF, Mumbai University and the Department of Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra.
What is the potential impact?
As a part of the pilot, across the 50 inducted colleges, we aim to
- train over 120 peer supporters,
- engage 50,000 students through sensitization workshops, and
- reach 700 students through peer support sessions,
The overarching goal is to gather learnings to develop a sustainable and scalable model that can be implemented in higher educational institutes across the country.
Where have we have reached?
- Orientation for NSS Program Officers
Held on 19 September 2025, this marked the beginning of the pilot program. It was attended by 56 NSS POs from colleges across Mumbai.
- Formative Consultations
Between November 2025 to January 2026, 8 focus group discussions were held with college youth in Mumbai to gather inputs to design the program. Additionally, we conducted scoping visits in colleges and had in-depth conversations with NSS POs to understand the overall landscape better. - Faculty Mentor Trainings
Between December 2025 and June 2026, three batches of faculty mentor trainings have been completed, reaching a total of 58 POs across 51 colleges.
- Peer Supporter Trainings
Since Feb 2026, we have completed three batches of peer supporter trainings, inducting a total of 75 peer supporters across 15 colleges in Mumbai. We expect to reach a total of 140 peer supporters at the end of August 2026.
Over the course of the next 6 months, we will monitor the implementation of the program and collect data to understand if the program can (1) sustain engagement of peer supporters and faculty mentors, (2) reach and address concerns of youth in colleges and (3) assess whether NSS as a pathway can be institutionalised for implementation of the model.
Project Leads
- Dr. Kaustubh Joag
- Ms. Jasmine Kalha
- Mr. Arjun Kapoor
Project Team
- Ms. Sushmita Sumant
- Ms. Eesha Lavalekar
- Mr. Ajinkya Khandizod
PARTNERS
