Starting the Conversation: How Shruthi Ashwathappa Is Trying to Make Mental Health Easier to Talk About

Conversations around mental health are happening more often now, in passing, in private, and sometimes only in hindsight. But knowing what to do with those conversations, or how to respond to them, is still far less clear.

It’s within that space that Shruthi Ashwathappa finds herself.

Shruthi Ashwathappa is not a mental health professional. She is not a counsellor, a psychologist, or someone leading a large organisation. Instead, she comes from an IT background, has competed in sport at a national level, and now represents Victoria as a National Finalist in the Australia Galaxy Pageants.

So why is she talking about mental health?

Like many people, she did not recognise it at the time. It did not immediately present itself as something serious or something that required attention. It was easy to overlook, to move past. Only later does it begin to take shape

That experience, along with what she has seen in others, is what’s pushed her in this direction, not as someone with answers, but as someone trying to start something.

Through her initiative, VoiceOut, she talks about creating spaces for young women to speak more openly, not in formal settings, but in environments that feel familiar. Conversations, small group discussions, workshops. Nothing complex. Just spaces where people don’t feel like they have to filter themselves.

Because in many Indian households, that’s still the reality. You don’t always talk about how you’re feeling. And even when you do, it’s often met with confusion more than understanding, not because people don’t care, but because they don’t always know how to respond.

That’s the gap she’s trying to step into, not to fix it, but to make it easier to start. Pageantry, in this case, isn’t really the story. It’s just how she got access to a platform. What she does with it is what matters.

-Amaan Rangwala