During the pandemic which has challenged the very survival of an innumerable number of the financially backward classes and slum-dwellers, Aviva Damania, founder of The Mind Essentials, along with The Banyan Tree team, donated and distributed a month’s ration and sanitation kits  to a hundred families, which were in need of basic food to sustain themselves, in Asia’s largest slum – Dharavi.

Aviva was accompanied by her father, well known personality, Parvez Damania, and Mickey Mehta – India’s leading holistic health guru, who conducted breathing and meditation exercises to enhance immunity. 

Dharavi has been one of the worst affected areas in Mumbai by COVID-19, declared a containment zone in its entirety. Most of the families whose children studied in Banyan Tree English school were greatly affected. For seventeen years, the government recognized Banyan Tree English School, which caters to 600 students, has been bringing education to the marginalized Dharavi slums which house over a million people, in an area of just 2.1 sq. km (Population density: 277,316 people per sq. km).

The Mind Essentials, recently set up by mental health professional – Aviva, is a platform for online counselling (video call, call, chat). Recognising the need for online mental health services, especially during the pandemic, Aviva established The Mind Essentials, which now comprises 15 counsellors and psychologists. The Mind Essentials is committed to a long-term investment in marginalised people and this food distribution would be the forerunner of future efforts to ensure the continuity of providing therapy, care and compassion to them.