Around the globe, 1/3rd of entrepreneurial ventures are run by woman entrepreneurs. Due to economic progress, better access to education, urbanization, the spread of liberal and democratic culture and recognition by society, there has been a spurt in woman entrepreneurship in India. Gradually but steadily, world over, women entrepreneurs have emerged as successful entrepreneurs.  

Women-owned businesses enterprises are playing a prominent role in society inspiring others and generating more employment opportunities in the country. The increasing presence of women as entrepreneurs is bringing a lot of change in the business and economic growth of a country. We at Medicircle are conducting the 'Top Women Entrepreneurs of Healthcare’, Series to showcase such inspirational female role models on a revolutionary journey.

Dr. Supriya Malik is a founder of Embrace - making mental healthcare accessible which is located in Delhi. For the last 12 years, she has worked with a range of developmental and mental health disorders in Delhi and the UK, setting up early intervention programs as well as leading diagnostic services. She is passionate about working with children, adolescents and young adults, improving the quality of therapeutic services and building capacity. 

She has trained in various evidence-based programs and is an expert in carrying out diagnostic and multidisciplinary assessments. She holds the status of a Chartered Member (CPsychol) with the British Psychological Society, given for the highest level of technical competence in the field.

Mental health matters

Dr. Supriya says, “I think COVID has helped us all realize the importance of mental health. Younger generations are getting more aware of their mental health needs and not just focusing on fitness, they are thinking about mental wellbeing as well. So, we are seeing a lot more younger people, young adults coming in and asking us to help them through their stresses in life, recognizing depression. We have started to see that change. 

eMbrace – Making mental health accessible

Dr. Supriya mentions, “I've been a developmental psychologist for the last 12-13 years. And as an entrepreneur, I've started a mental health service, which is eMbrace. It is primarily an online therapy service. Along with that we have psychological assessments that we carry out which are valid and reliable. One of the key things that we wanted to do was to destigmatize anything related to mental health. And the other thing that we wanted to target was to be able to make therapy services easily accessible. Like there's a lot of stigmas already around mental health and going to a psychologist is not welcoming. So, making it an online service helps because you can do it discreetly. You can easily access the service sitting anywhere across the world, from your sofa couch, or from the car that you have just parked outside the parking lot. This way at least we can help the people who need help.”

Dr. Supriya emphasizes, “Those whoever is in need, can just give us a call. That's it. You will be immediately put under the guidance of a licensed Clinical Psychologist we have and everyone undergoes specific training to ensure certain values. Our services are confidential, privacy is paramount for us.”

Advantages

Dr. Supriya tells, “I think the big struggles were to decide on the finances, like any other entrepreneur, is it possible for me to take a step back and not have a salary? Another struggle, I'm sure other women will understand is balancing the family with all the work that is required in setting up an organization making sure that it does well.

I think that women have a huge advantage as well. We have high emotional intelligence. Empathy is so important in organizations, but not just for organizations for the kind of work we do in the profession. It requires some level of empathy, sympathy, patience, and all those skills. As a woman you do understand those values more, you're able to make the clients comfortable, and then it sorts of seeps down into the organization and your employees. Employees also feel that you're more approachable like that.”

Challenges and motivations

Dr. Supriya expresses, “I think the biggest challenge has been awareness, awareness even in the medical fraternity and awareness amongst the general public. A high level of awareness at every stage is required. We are speaking to different physicians, pediatricians, and other different specialties so that they can differentiate between psychological issues and physical issues and refer to us. 

And awareness has also been the biggest motivation. We need to educate people a lot regarding mental health. I think professionals will help in the evolution of society, in making sure that we are becoming a more open accepting inclusive society. And the other motivation was to also improve the standard of our profession. We take training very seriously at eMbrace and slowly we are starting to open training, seminars for other psychologists, as well so that we can improve the quality.”

Here are the Contact details:
Website: www.embracelives.com
Phone no.: +919971576800
email: info@embracelives.com

(Edited by Renu Gupta)