Imagine more than 20,000 colourful 3x3-inch sticky notes covering a wall, filled with writings in different languages, drawings, lyrics, and even blank spaces. That’s what people walked into on October 3 at IIT Madras Research Park — a mosaic of hope, uncertainty, humour, aspiration, and love, created by youngsters aged 10 to 25, responding to the question: “Reason for Living”.
The notes were part of the Wall of Hope, a national youth mental health campaign by the Schizophrenia Research Foundation’s (SCARF) Department of Youth Mental Health. The initiative provided a space for young people to express their thoughts, feelings, aspirations, and personal reasons for living through brief messages, which for some even extended to more than one sheet. The event brought together the campaign’s collected responses, allowing visitors to engage with the voices behind the wall and initiate conversations on youth mental wellness through panel discussions, a jamming session, and stalls.
For Aravind Guru, psychologist, researcher at SCARF, and campaign lead, the idea emerged from the difficulty of speaking openly about mental health, particularly suicide. “Still, in India, we are not at that threshold to speak comfortably about mental health,” he says. “No matter where I go, we are told to talk about mental health, anxiety, stress, exam-related problems or even relationships, but not suicide. People are genuinely concerned because they think that when I talk about suicide, they (young people) may attempt it.” However, he says it is proven that talking about suicide does not initiate or impart suicidal ideation.
Looking for a way to make the conversation more accessible, the team turned to an art-based intervention. SCARF trained young people through its Peer Leaders and Trainer Modules. More than 400 peer leaders have since been involved, taking the activity back to their colleges and communities. Across 23 colleges, four schools, five youth spaces, and one scientific conference, the campaign has collected more than 20,000 messages of hope.
Aravind also notes that the peer leaders were trained to respond if someone was getting emotionally triggered during the activity. SCARF team, a counsellor from that college, a mental health professional or a point of contact was present with them. Distressed responses were identified and followed up by the SCARF team along with mental health professionals or designated contacts at the institution.
Some answers on the wall were deeply personal: ‘It is very difficult for me’, ‘I don’t want to live’, ‘Fear of Death’; some even spoke about abuse, among others. In contrast, others were unexpectedly simple: ‘Waiting for Vada Chennai 2’, ‘To witness a BTS concert live’, ‘To make our nation a better place.’ Someone even left only a question mark beneath the prompt.
The responses also revealed recurring themes. Aravind says family was prominent, followed by love, friendships, and career aspirations.
At the dissemination meeting on October 3, the Wall of Hope stood not merely as an installation, but as a record of how young people see their lives and future. For SCARF, the exercise is ultimately about initiating conversations, creating space to speak, and making help-seeking possible when needed.