Moshal: The story of a beauty queen who became a torchbearer for mental health 

Beauty pageants such as Miss Universe and Miss World usually have a section where contestants are asked a number of questions, one of which usually involves how they would bring about a change in society or what is one area in society they feel needs urgent attention.

Beauty contestants in the past have been known to give intelligent and moving answers to the questions. Unfortunately, though most of them often express a desire to work for society, very often they end up carving out a career in the glamour world.   

Not so for Maria Mumu.

Standing on the country's most prestigious beauty pageant platform - Miss Universe Bangladesh 2019 - Maria, who eventually finished fourth, told the judges she wanted to work on mental.  

And as promised, right after the contest, Maria launched into the work of raising awareness on mental health issues. 

She had good reason to do this.

Maria herself has been battling depression and anxiety since 2017, which eventually began affecting her physical health. She experienced constant severe stomach pain, which most doctors could not diagnose. 

Over time, her situation worsened to the point where Maria was bed ridden; she suffered from a loss of appetite and insomnia.

Talking about the days of her struggles with depression, Maria recalled, "It was a very difficult time and I started hallucinating at some point. Luckily, I met a student from Maryland University who was a PR counselor. He gave me hints that I might have had depression."

When Maria got to the root of her problems - depression, she realised how big of a deal it was and the fact that most people around her were unaware of it. 

In 2018, Maria lost one of her best friends to suicide and then another junior from her school who jumped off the roof and died. 

"I felt the need to do something to help those who have mental health issues and right when the beauty contest ended in 2019, I founded Moshal. Everything

I envisioned is now becoming a reality," said Maria in an interview with The Business Standard.

Moshal Mental Health Foundation is an awareness and service based platform. Its journey began at Rajuk Uttara Model College where the foundation organised a seminar for 600 students, addressing topics like peer-pressure, suicidal ideations, and parenting. 

"Mental health issues are still a taboo topic in our country and seminars and events on mental health issues are not so common here either," expressed Maria, founder and president of Moshal Mental Health Foundation. 

The platform's next big step was to organise a three day program "Youth For The World" - inspiring youngsters to share their ideas and talk about mental health issues as well.

On the first day of the event, participants spoke with doctors and psychiatrists, followed by a session with young entrepreneurs on the next, and on the final day, the participants shared their ideas on business, society, and utilising Youth For The World as a platform for future endeavours. 

Moshal Mental Health has come a long way since then. Besides organising webinars and seminars regularly, the foundation tries to provide treatment and food to underprivileged people as well. 

Through their merchandise and social media outlets, Moshal tries to spread awareness on mental health issues. "As I went through depression myself, I can only identify the red signals of depression, but we have experts who help our clients to identify their mental health conditions. 

Our advisory panel and our board members are an indispensable part of our journey. They help our clients identify the red signals of mental health issues, such as when I was suffering from stomach pain as a result of depression, I did not know why I was feeling that way," said Maria.

Moshal's service section consists of psychologists and psychiatrists with diverse backgrounds from Bangladesh and the USA. They are constantly working to make Moshal a better place for people of all demographics. Their services range from TK1,500-2,000.

"We work as a team to support our clients. Many people ask me how I built the team in such a short time, but I believe the main driving force of our organisation is the subject itself: we work on mental health issues which are ignored most of the time in our society," Maria claimed. 

Moshal is self-funded; Maria and the advisory board members provide funds as much as possible to bear the expenses. Moshal pays its psychologists and psychiatrists with the money it gets from clients. 

However, according to Maria, it is difficult to run an organisation this way and the team is working to acquire funding from the government and other international platforms.

"My journey with Moshal has been the most beautiful one of my life and this is the best decision I could have ever made. It helps me grow as I learn from it everyday. It also burns me down, but the journey is worth it," expressed Maria.

At the age of 20, Maria won the Diana Award as the first mental health advocate from Bangladesh and her organisation, Moshal, became the youngest mental health organisation to receive international acknowledgement. 

Maria had just finished her A levels in psychology with an A+ when she heard about the award. "I flipped out when I received the official email and I was extremely happy. I am very thankful to Esrat Karim Eve, director of AMAL Foundation, who had suggested Shah Rafayat Chowdhury, co-founder of Footsteps, to nominate Moshal for the Diana award," said Maria.