Psycure: Making mental healthcare more affordable and accessible
Founded by Murad Ansary, Psycure is a one-stop digital platform working towards destigmatising mental healthcare and providing holistic services for mental health and well-being.
The platform began its journey as a university club in February 2019. Being a student of Clinical Psychology, Ansary was deeply concerned about the lack of mental healthcare support among the youth and started giving out free online counselling sessions. This initiative received an overwhelming response from the masses and paved the way for the formation of a youth-led start-up.
Due to his contributions to the field, Ansary received the Diana Award earlier this year. Ansary completed his graduation from Rajshahi University and is presently pursuing his masters at the same institution.
"Before confirming my admission, I thought I would study Criminal Psychology. When the classes began, it came as a surprise that Clinical Psychology was not even close to what I had imagined," he recalled. "While it seemed boring to begin with, my interest kept growing over the years. It was also intriguing that I was studying a subject that was associated with such a big taboo in our country."
On his journey to making Psycure, Ansary discovered that only 2 percent of students end up becoming clinical psychologists. The career opportunities were limited, thereby presenting a good scope for new ideas.
"I wanted to train these students, and share opportunities with them," explained Ansary. Additionally, there were only 50-60 clinical psychologists, while 30 percent of the population suffered from mental health problems. "Mental healthcare is extremely centralised and expensive, which is not at all student-friendly."
Psycure began its Campus Ambassador programme in September 2019, which brought together 100 students from more than 60 campuses. The numbers kept increasing during the pandemic. Till date, the organisation has organised over 100 workshops, and provided free mental healthcare to around 1500 people. Psycure also received the Joy Bangla Youth Award in 2020, for its relentless efforts towards making mental healthcare services more affordable and accessible. Its other achievements include the Young Global Changemakers Award, 2021, Bangabandhu Innovation Award, 2021, and the SIMcubator Research Grant.
After almost two years of social service, Psycure decided to pivot towards becoming a start-up in 2021. As a start-up, Psycure's main activities encompass awareness building, education and mental health services.
Under its awareness programme, Psycure organises several campaigns—including its signature events, Unwind Mind, Spreading Mental Health Awareness and National Mother's Campaign. They also provided training and workshop facilities to 11,000 people. These covered topics on how to deal with anxiety, depression, stress, postpartum depression, and suicide prevention. Currently, the team has 11 professional psychologists, with over 5 years of experience.
Psycure also provides counselling and employee motivation for large corporate organisations. The price range for their sessions falls between BDT 1,000 to BDT 2,500—depending on the experience of the psychologists. For students, the rate is adjusted according to their budget. Their employee assistance programme is currently active in two organisations. They have further collaborated with a law firm, where they provide assistance to clients dealing with separation and domestic violence.
What makes Psycure unique is the fact that it is a one stop digital platform for mental health care. "We offer a smooth and easy process for our clients and can immediately customise a solution as we have lots of clinical psychologists on board," he added. In the near future, Psycure intends to launch an app, eventually aiming to make it services available on a global level.
The author is a student of IBA, DU and a freelance journalist who likes reading, scribbling, and blogging. Email: mislammonamee@gmail.com.