21-yr-old psychology student sets up first Mental Health Café in Tricity
21-yr-old psychology student sets up first Mental Health Café in Tricity:In order to break the stigma attached to mental health and encourage people to talk more about mental health issues – a tricity based 21-year old young entrepreneur, Angel D’souza has unveiled tricity’s first of its kind Mental Health Café ‘Your Sugar Daddy’ at Sector 54, here.
Drawing her inspiration from Covid-19 blues – Angel, who is pursuing her studies in Psychology at UBC, Vancouver, Canada conceptualized a unique concept to provide a warm and welcoming space for the customers to talk on mental health issues over a coffee & a bite.
Speaking about her venture, Angel said, “COVID was the reason I could start this venture, it all started when I thought of creating a home cloud kitchen/bakery when I had a lot of time on my hands due to the pandemic. COVID really made me think, so I opened this after a lot of experimenting. Another aspect is that this pandemic holds immense significance when it comes to deterioration of mental health due to isolation and loneliness. Not only COVID but also being hyper aware of everything around us because of the internet makes people really sad these days. So when I started to think about opening a cafe, I really wanted to incorporate the theme of mental health, it’s just to make people smile a little brighter with the wholesomeness of food and games & activities that we will provide.”
“We truly believe that food is something that brings people together. And good food can surely change your mood. The cafe will cater to mental health in a variety of ways to promote the importance of mental health in our lives. To spread awareness, we will organize mental health workshops, especially creative therapy workshops such as puppy therapy, bunny therapy, art therapy, music therapy, etc.” Added Angel.
With her research in Psychology Angel has devised some interesting psychological games. Visitors will be provided ‘mindfulness colouring sheets’ as a part of art therapy, then there would be the colour game, adapted from the Stroop effect , another game would be a personality test game, another game would be a game of dares where we will tell the customer to talk to another customer sitting on the table beside them. All these interesting games will be part of the cafe experience while visitors wait for their food.
“We will play the games with only people who give us permission for these.” added Angel.
“Though we live in a modern society, there is a stigma surrounding mental health we direly need to de-stigmatize by spreading more awareness about it. At ‘Your Sugar Daddy’ café we have tried to create a non-judgmental environment for people to meet & share their own personal stories,” Angel further said.
21-yr-old psychology student sets up first Mental Health Café in Tricity
A USP of the cafe is that Angel is doing all the baking herself as she has a passion for the same. Apart from an array of bakery products the cafe offers Pan-Asian, Italian, Mexican & Indian cuisine too. Quick eats Vada Pao are major attractions.
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To truly enhance the spirit of the café’ and give it a lively ambiance – the mental health cafe is all painted white which has elaborate glass windows, rustic furniture and a dining place. At the moment you enter the café, its eye-catching graffiti and murals on the walls straightway grab your attention.
