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This awareness website is maintained by Ugravedan Foundation, a not for profit organization. We are registered under section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. We are committed to empowering community with valuable health knowledge so that they people can live healthier and happier lives.
Our focus has been substance addiction as we believe that our society owes it to our youth to caution them about the true consequences of using these substances, so that they don’t get fooled by the misleading propaganda.
We were a part of WHO SEARO’s ‘Meri Pyaari Zindagi’ campaign. This website is the official website of the campaign. The campaign has 10 videos, 10 audio stories and 20 memes to sensitize youth about various aspects related to alcohol addiction in an interesting & engaging way.
Besides these, we have written some blogs and compiled together many other wonderful open-source resources from around the world that will help you protect yourself, your family, and the community around you from these addictive poisons.
Our Vision
To empower the community with valuable knowledge regarding mental health and other key health issues, so that people can take better care of their health.
Our Main Activities
Presentations to empower youngsters with adequate knowledge about alcohol, tobacco & cannabis and answer common misconceptions, so that they can resist the rising peer pressure. We have given more than 550 presentations on this topic till now.
Conducting workshops on various life skills, especially for children from marginalized sections of society.
Supporting people who contact us via email or phone to quit alcohol and tobacco.
Conducting trainings for those active citizens who want to spread awareness on the issue of substance addiction.
Conducting trainings to empower health professionals and counsellors to help people in quitting alcohol and tobacco.
Creating awareness material on various health issues for dissemination via social media.
Project Reports
Impact of Our Presentations
Project Report 24-25
Activity Wise Expense
Why we choose to focus on alcohol and tobacco addiction?
As per Global Burden of disease study 2019, the most common risk factors responsible for life years lost due to disability (DALYs) in young people aged 25—49 years are:
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Alcohol Use
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High Blood Pressure
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High BMI (Obesity)
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Tobacco use
Alcohol & tobacco use are one of the biggest causes of the NCD epidemic. Yet perceived risk of their use is low. Thanks to aggressive marketing and western influence, the social acceptance of alcohol use is increasing rapidly in our society. We believe it is a critical time in our cultural history wherein all of us need to act urgently; or else our culture of abstinence will be lost. Damage done will be difficult to reverse later.
Why do we conduct workshops on life-skills
Our society owes it to all children that we provide them adequate nurturance. Also the future of our society depends on them. What they do with their energy depends on how constructive were the inputs that society gave them. Many children from lower socio economic strata don’t receive good quality mentoring; but they have to face tougher challenges compared to other children. The least we can do is to empower them with good life skills. This will increase their ability to handle challenges creatively and lead an addiction free lifestyle. Hence we do workshops on:
How to cultivate self esteem
Healthy ways of coping with stress and emotions
Handling bullying
Communication skills & Social skills
Internet and Screen addiction
Sex Education
Meet The Team
Dr. Dharav Sandhya Sunil Shah
(Director)
Dr Dharav did his diploma in psychiatry from BJMC, Pune and MD in Psychiatry from NIMHANS, Bangalore. He has been spreading awareness on various mental health issues for more than 16 yrs. He gives half his working time for awareness work. He has given more than 450 presentations on substance addiction, including at 62 medical colleges. This foundation was started so that more people can be trained and supported for giving similar awareness presentations and more people can be reached, especially youth from marginalized sections of our society.
Dr. Taru Sneh Ramnath Jindal
(Director)
Dr Taru is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist who has worked in Bihar along with ‘Care India’ and ‘Doctors For You’ towards improving quality of maternity services being provided. She was instrumental in transformation of Motihari district hospital from one of the worst to the winner of the Kayakalp Award from GOI. She has captured her journey in her book ‘A Doctor’s experiments in Bihar’. She has extensively worked on improving breastfeeding awareness & skills, conducting more than 50 workshops across the country empowering more than 6500 mothers & health workers. Now she focuses on running a programme for a sexual disorder which many couples suffer silently for many years, called Vaginismus. She provides strategic inputs to the organization.
Tejal Khedekar
(Fellow Psychologist)
She is our first fellow. She primarily conducts addiction prevention workshops for school and college students. She has already given more than 60 awareness talks in the 6 months that she has been with us. She also counsels people who call on our helpline. Apart from being a psychologist, she is an active volunteer of Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti and loves to dance, act, sing and travel. She has Masters in Applied Psychology from Tata institute of Social Sciences and received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Ruia College. Before joining Powerful Gyaan, She worked at Mpower - Aditya Birla Education Trust as a facilitator for BMC school teachers and students for a year.
Keertisudha Rajput
(Rehabilitation Psychologist)
She is a senior psychologist who has been passionately working for improving mental health service delivery and also has rich experience of life skills education. She was a faculty at ‘National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities’ for many years. She helps us with module creation, research and counselling of people who call on the helpline
Rupal Tanna
(Psychologist)
Rupal is a Clinical Psychologist and Pranic Healing Trainer with more than 11 years experience in counseling HIV/AIDS patients through FXB, Rotary, and MDACS. Taken multiple awareness sessions on HIV/AIDS and on meditation in community in schools and with HCC workers. She now supports callers on our helpline with compassionate guidance.
Pradnya Visave
(Fellow Social Worker)
She has done her MSW in Social Work Counselling from TISS Guwahati. She is passionate about making a difference in the lives of women and children. She conducts awareness talks on substance addiction and other life skills workshops. She also helps the organization with fund raising and spreading awareness via social media.
Dr. Kavita Vaidya
(Psychiatrist)
She is a senior psychiatrist working in Navi Mumbai with a very rich experience of helping people quit addictive substances. She has also given many awareness talks on various mental health issues in schools, colleges and various other organizations. She supervises the psychologists who counsel people calling on our helpline.
Suyash Toshniwal
(IT Head & Community Liaison Officer)
Suyash has been an active member of social organizations since student days. He chose to use his education in IT for helping the development sector. He has worked with SEARCH, MGIMS Sevagram, India Fellow Program in past and currently works with Dr. Sushila Nayar Hospital, Melghat. Based on his rich experience and passion, Suyash contributes towards strategic planning at Ugravedan and establishing community partnerships.
Dr. Rohit Badgujar
(Designer)
He is a dentist but has a very creative spark and a passion to contribute constructively to society. He does design for our important posters and reels.