Mega Project Blog 1 (IAmHum)
Couple of months back when we all started the fellowship, we were individuals trying to work on ourown selves. Our instructors mentioned the term “Mega Project” and we used to wonder how would we ever be able to bring this term to life. After our Amal circles were formed, we still were only just individuals trying to get through the project phase. It was until after numerous hour-long meetings together we realized we’re not individuals, we’re a team. Just after acknowledging this one fact, we felt that team spirit like never before. Since we all had been through depression and battled with anxiety, we instantly knew we wanted to work on a safe space for people.
IAmHum, which is the name of our team, came to life on the 11th of April, 2021. Now this team did consist of individuals, but these individuals were like-minded, motivated and had heaps of hope to make a difference in our very judgmental and unforgiving society. Our first task was to choose a name for our venture, we decided upon “Letters to Silent Hearts”. Through Letters to Silent Hearts, we were all aiming to create some sense of comfort for someone in need out there in these very uncertain times. The ‘letters’ right from the beginning stood for all the ways in which we could extend support to someone battling with their own mind. Be it by hosting expert opinions on a subject that needs to be talked about, or by becoming the medium for connecting the ones struggling directly with professionals. In addition to webinars, teaching some much-needed coping mechanisms for the COVID-stricken world, being true to our name, we will also be sending out handwritten letters to anyone dealing with depression because of COVID as a token of our togetherness.
Our second task was to design a logo for our team and for our non-profit venture. All of us sent different logos and spent countless hours coming up with the one that would instantly feel like home, like a source of hope to someone right at first glance. We finally decided on this one, I’ve shared below:
We started of with a team of 6. When we lost 2 of our team members, it was sort off a drawback, we had to keep reminding ourselves why we’re doing this. A huge part of our motivation was the fact that we knew how it felt like when you’re not seen or heard and we really wanted to put an end to such a feeling for anyone out there. Now we’re a team of 4 and we know that no matter what happens, our motivation wouldn’t budge.
Now that we had a name for ourselves, a name and logo for our venture, the next task was to choose a medium through which we could approach people. We chose Facebook. We wanted to conduct our first webinar on “Mental Health Awareness”. The most challenging task was to arrange a guest speaker (psychiatrist/ psychologist) for our webinar who would volunteer to work with us and also understand our mission. The second challenge was to schedule the webinar according to the availability of the speaker. We had to meet multiple times in a week, reschedule meetings because some of us had our papers and jobs, a lot went in actually choosing the right guest speaker and coming up with the date and time. We came up with a poster:
So far, we have been able to successfully establish an online presence on Facebook through which we are inviting requests for handwritten letters. With the audience garnered through the platform we recently conducted our first webinar on Mental Health Awareness with an accomplished young psychologist Fareed Ahmed Mustafai as a guest speaker. The session primarily aimed at tackling the taboos around the topic, and to essentially destigmatize the idea of seeking professional help in our cultures. The feedback we received on the webinar has us confidently calling it a success. It also proved to be fruitful for us in terms of reaching our goal of making mental health support more accessible. The guest speaker being the founder of Young Psychologists Association in Lahore very graciously volunteered the assistance and support of the professionals in his organization for anyone in need reaching through our platform.
We got really positive feedback for our session, which really motivated us to keep putting our heart and soul into this venture. Some of the feedback forms are shared below:
I sincerely want to thank my team members Marvee, who has been handling and managing the Facebook page and updating it alongside and writing the sweetest letters. Misbah, who has been helping me carry out meetings, strategize plans, from logos to choosing the guest speaker and Asif for marketing and helping our page reach more audience. We are planning to have some more webinars next week on specific topics like triggering traumas, emotional blackmailing, etc. that lead towards mental health issues, stress and anxiety. We will be sending handwritten letters to those who have shared their hearts with us to make them feel special and worthy. There’s so much more we’re trying to bring to life and I really want to thank everyone who has been supporting us. Stick with us because “picture abhi baki hai meray dost!” :’)
