Meet Yashika, a 23-year-old Biology Major and Bioengineering minor student from ISER, navigating the intricate realms of academia while confronting the shadows of her past. Hailing from a Kashmiri migrant family settled in NOIDA, she shares her journey of resilience, recovery, and transformation with the support of YourDOST.
She has played badminton up to the state level, and after coming to college she even started playing volleyball other than that she likes reading, dancing and cooking.
She mentioned that she was supposed to take care of the elder one as well as the younger one so school life in general was okay. She used to study and participate in competitions but like she never made a lot of friends in school as she was bullied very badly in school and she never really had a lot of conversation with people.
Therapy was recommended to her at YourDOST by her college counselor doctor who sits there and her name was Dr blessy.
“I really liked my counselor and I slowly slowly started talking to her. it took a while for me to open up to her. However, the sessions are still going on.”
Yashika mentioned that she is somebody with a history of childhood traumas and she started taking therapy after she got diagnosed with anorexia nervosa in February.
“I remember how I started losing a lot of weight and that was the time when things got pretty serious and bad so my doctor suggested that I take counseling sessions and thats how I got here.”
Yashika describes that she visited a psychiatrist and she told her to take counseling from YourDOST which was provided by the institute.
“I was diagnosed with PTSD and Depression around four five years back but anorexia was the recent one and during that time like I did not get out of my room for around 3 three and a half months like the only place I used to go to was either the washroom or the hospital.”
Yashika’s struggle reached a point where hospitalization was a consideration. However, with Pranami’s guidance, she started to rebuild her relationship with food, regain strength, and find solace in the guidance offered during moments of overwhelming anxiety.
Yashika explained that she booked her session with Ms. Pranami and that she is a very good counselor.
“Pranami used to sit with me on the call and do guided meditations and then she suggested me to do certain exercises on notebooks like drawing a triangle mentioning my behavior and thoughts.”
Yashika also mentioned that there was written work like writing down cognitive behaviors, emotions associated with certain kinds of behaviors, mindfulness exercises, and box breathing techniques.
She also explained that after her therapy sessions, she started eating little by little and performing better.
“Everytime I used to feel like a little overwhelmed or something I used to just drop a text to the psychologist and like within a few minutes she used to revert back telling me okay then you should do this you should do that and the other things we will discuss so it instantly used to you know calm that anxiety down.”
She elaborated on how she was feeling better and started interacting with more people.
Word of gratitude to counselor:
“I don’t know how she has so much patience, and a lot of consistency. Every time I used to skip a session you know she used to like instantly text me that you have not booked a session quickly book your session I think it is because of her hard work actually it’s her stubbornness that made me you know like more consistent.”
She rates herself a 3 out of 5 in terms of improvement after therapy.
Yashika’s journey, marked by resilience and recovery, paints a poignant picture of the transformative power of counseling. YourDOST, through dedicated counselors like Ms. Pranami, becomes a pillar of support, guiding individuals toward healing and self-discovery. Yashika’s warrior tips echo the importance of breaking societal barriers, fostering awareness, and taking control of one’s mental health journey.
Yashika’s Warrior Tips:
1. “Ignore the stigma around mental health and seek therapy if you feel like you need it.”
2.“The majority of the people that you know dont know about mental health issues and it is because of this reason they dont accept therapy.”
3.“ That’s because somebody was not able to come out of their problem that doesn’t mean you also have to be stuck.”
