Snapchat rolls out ‘Here for You’ feature in India to help users tackle mental health problems; Details

Snapchat had begun rolling out the ‘Here for You’ feature in March.

Snapchat features: Social media platform Snapchat has set into motion the rolling out of its ‘Here for You’ feature in India! Image sharing app Snapchat would be rolling out updates on safety and support for mental health in India via its ‘Here for You’ section, the platform has announced. The section would cover various topics like anxiety, eating disorders and depression among others, and the feature is available on iOS as well as Android.

The section, Snapchat said, contains resources on mental health by the Mariwala Health Initiative and the Manas Foundation. The update is a part of Snapchat’s effort to educate as well as empower Snapchat users and the community to take care of themselves. The company said in its statement that the update came about after a research paper last year pointed out that its users faced several mental health issues.

On its website, Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, stated that it had begun rolling out the ‘Here for You’ feature in March. The idea behind this was that the research found Snapchat users in anxiety, depression and other mental health problems, and that friends were the first people these users turned to, instead of professionals. Hence, the feature is to help these friends be better equipped to deal with mental issues and help each other.

Snapchat: How to access ‘Here for You’

The ‘Here for You’ section can be accessed by searching for keywords like depression, anxiety, suicide, mental health, well being and loneliness in the Snapchat app. This can be done in both Android as well as iOS.

The feature includes information on topics like how to spot signs of mental illness in loved ones, or methods to cope with mental issues. Apart from this, it also contains questions from the community which have been answered by mental health professionals and clinical psychologists.