KOCHI: There is little doubt every parent gets worried when the child lacks interest in studies, has attention problems, faces substance abuse or spends too much time on social media.Enter eYogi.in - a startup based at the Nasscom 10,000 Startups Warehouse here. As their initial service, the startup offers telephonic counselling to students and parents facing such problems.
They also aim to use the latest technology solutions like artificial intelligence, machine learning, mobility and wearable devices in the future to increase the availability and accessibility of trained mental health experts to guide people with mental health issues across the country.The first batch of counsellors were trained on the uses of the new technology. The initial customer group mainly aimed by eYogi is small institutions, before stepping up to bigger ones.“We believe there is a need for trained mental health providers,” said eYogi operations head Vipin Menon.
“The lack of infrastructure, social stigma and other factors stop people from approaching a doctor directly. This service would help such people. We focused on telephonic conversations considering the problems with internet connectivity and will upgrade soon. Currently, calls are connected to the counsellor from our server.”
eYogi started as a project in Kozhikode IIM. “The name eYogi itself was selected because ‘yogi’ is a person who has control over his mind and can guide others. Initially, we had to convince the counsellors that this would help. They were unsure about being able to help people without seeing them and observing their body language. However, the training has addressed a few of those concerns. In the future, we may use virtual reality and other technologies to facilitate face-to-face communication too,” Vipin said.