Deepika Padukone interacts with mental health patients in Tamil

• Deepika visited Thiruvallaur in Tamil Nadu’s countryside.
• She spoke with patients of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), their caretakers, and ASHA employees.
• The star posted a message about her visit on her foundation’s Instagram account.

On October 10, Deepika Padukone proudly discussed the work her mental health nonprofit Live Love Laugh has carried out in rural regions in a letter she wrote in honour of World Mental Health Day. Prior to the event, Deepika visited Thiruvallaur in Tamil Nadu’s countryside. She spoke with patients of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), their caretakers, and ASHA employees.

In order to share photos from her trip, Deepika posted them on her Instagram account on Monday. The star posted a message about her visit on her foundation’s Instagram page, “Since our inception, we have been relentless in our efforts to improve the lives of those experiencing mental illness, as well as the lives of their caregivers. Expanding our rural outreach program to Tamil Nadu is one more important step towards making mental health care accessible and affordable for all.”

 

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A post shared by Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone)

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In the photos, Deepika was seen talking with caretakers and visiting the beneficiaries’ homes. She was shown drinking tea from a paper cup with her crew and other people in one of the photos. In a another image, she was seen holding a woman’s hand while the latter dried her tears with her saree.

On the foundation’s Instagram feed, more images and videos from the two-day tour were posted. She urged someone in a video from the tour’s opening day to “study hard, study well.” She said about her visit, “Definitely overwhelming. Makes you realise that there’s so much more work to be done.”

Her voiceover in a video from the second day of the visit said, “It’s been five years since our first rural visit. We met someone today where in the last 6 months, their life has changed. When you hear these stories first hand, is when you feel like absolutely everything that we are doing and of course, with the support of our donors, it all comes together, and gives it all meaning and purpose.”

In 2015, Deepika Padukone said in an interview that she had struggled with depression the year before and had sought professional therapy after her mother had recognised the symptoms. This was the year that she founded her nonprofit, Live Love Laugh. In a recent interview, she said about her mom Ujjwala Padukone and her sister Anisha Padukone, “Even in my personal journey, the role of the caregiver has been extremely important that’s why my mother is here, that’s why my sister has been so passionately part of this cause for many years and also therefore when I hear the stories of the caregivers.”