Introducing Myself and the *New! Improved!* Health Collective

Hi folks. We've kicked off an interesting year on the back of a 'year of years' and I'm writing to you in the midst of an intense, heart-wrenching period of mass layoffs, notable not just for the breadth and depth of the workforces being gutted, but the heartless, cold way in which they're being done. ("It's not just that we got laid off, it's the humiliating way it was done," one tech exec told me last month, with another echoing the fact that they "didn't even get to say bye" to colleagues or teams they'd worked with for so long).

COPING WITH SUDDEN JOB LOSS (AND HELPING OTHERS TO)

At The Health Collective, we shared this piece by psychologist and contributor Kamna Chhibber, which might be helpful as some of us try to process those feelings of "sudden job loss" and for others looking at how to be better friends, allies, colleagues – mi network es tu network was the rallying cry of solidarity, which I still see (#bless and #gratitude). But there are many nuances there, which you might want to check out.

Are There Ways to Cope with Sudden Job Loss?

Facing job loss is an extremely challenging situation, and coping with it requires a multi-pronged approach which focuses on the self and the support of those around.

The Health Collective IndiaHealth Collective

You know what it is, a huge reminder that we need to see ourselves as more than just one identity. I've been called a multi-hyphenate (which apparently is a thing...) – I think we all need to become multi-hyphenates. We need to realise that when we're working for a company or organisation (however big or small), y/our identity as an employee or as a professional – no matter how talented! – is just that, y/our identity as an employee. It doesn't define you/us, jobs aren't meant to do that. We're meant to have other interests, some of us have families, pets, hobbies, curiosity, other things calling out to us in this great big universe, and we need to enjoy those – the things, and sides of us, both.

We need to develop different muscles, not just the ones that make you/us a good workaholic. Of course, finances and commercials are a huge factor that comes to play, I'm all-too-aware. Which brings me to the next...

Let's Talk Business Models

Actually hang on a tick, before the business model conversation, let me tell you a bit about myself.

Let's Talk About Me (My Least Favourite Topic)

I'm Amrita Tripathi – as someone who wrote her (terrible, no-good, very bad) autobiography at the age of 15, I suppose it was no surprise that I had the calling to be a writer. I also wanted to be like Christiane Amanpour – and guess what, for a while I could say, in a way* (*very loosely interpreting the second wish), that both things happened. (The dreams of youth are a powerful thing)

I became a published author, with two novels out in 2010 and 2015 and a glorious and fast-paced career as a (senior!) news anchor and broadcast journalist from a national news channel (from launch in 2005 to the back-half of 2014). Life was good!

This is one of my last shows on air with one of fave co-anchors and journalists, and here we are today

SO THEN WHAT HAPPENED....

Then I took a strange decision to quit that industry, feeling jaded and spent and not just a little burnt-out and grumpy (I *had written a book called Broken News about dysfunctional relationships around the newsroom, so I mean... maybe it wasn't such a bolt from the blue!)... So curtains on that. I dabbled in a few things, realised I still loved doing interviews and things like that, and then found another amazing, fast-paced! glorious! place to work, which was Twitter India. Twitter being very much my brand of vodka as a journalist and being at the centre of the zeiteist very much what this former (news) adrenaline junkie needed. Simultaneously, I realised how much I cared about Mental Health and the gap in the media landscape in India back in 2016 was palpable.

So I set up The Health Collective, which was an attempt to tell stories from an India lens, as well as collate resources that folks could reach out to for support.

And that brings us to where we are today... (I'll take another detour to talk about our lovely books in the Mindscape series, and one on Suicide Prevention that I co-authored with senior psychiatrists at another time, but please by all means check them out if you can!)

Here we are today. Another huge decision – I quit that lovely Twitter job* (*T&C apply) a month and change ago (oh, what's that? have you heard about some ongoing drama and crisis at the company, say what?) – and I'm kicking off a new chapter now. Which brings me, finally to that section we discussed

Let's Talk Business Models

I'm kicking off a more entreprenurial journey with one new venture (more more more coming soon, and I'm super excited, as it ties into another key interest area), and I'm committed to continuing this one! On Mental Health, and making these conversations easier and more accessible, especially here in India – I can do this as long as I have gas in the tank, of course, and it looks like we've got to figure out a better model than just personally financing the commissioning of content (there's some fantastic art and comics, animation and interviews as well as original reportage on the site, please do go check it out!)

SO. As I look at entrepreneurial models, including social ventures, like this one, it turns out we still need to be able tocover our costs and have some sort of ROI. So you'll be hearing more from me about memberships, paid workshops, paid newsletters, micro-events and even those books (sales do add up, right?!).

My promise though: I never want to lose the tribe and collective we have over on The Health Collective and I know that times are tough (see first para!) so we will be keeping a lot of our content FREE and easily accessible. But ... we'll be charging those who can afford to and are so inclined, and we would love to count on your support with ever-newer ideas to level up as we go. Thank you! 🙏 💜

Happy Republic Day, friends and #JaiHind (and that's for all of us in this beautiful country, as we look to reclaim every space as a safe space for all of us)

More #ComingSoon
We'll be launching membership models right here so stay tuned for those! Thank you for your support and here's to the tribe.