Dr Mayaa SH | From Transactional to Human: Changing The Conversation Around Suicide Prevention On World Mental Health Day

Dr Mayaa SH, a prominent women's rights activist, author, and feminist philosopher, has extensively addressed domestic violence in her work, emphasizing its profound impact and the societal changes required to combat it. Her insights are deeply rooted in her experiences as a survivor and advocate, focusing on empowering women and challenging societal attitudes that blame victims.Beyond her writings, Dr Mayaa SH urges public discourse on gender-based violence, encouraging the use of social media hashtags like #OrangeTheWorld and #GenerationEquality to raise awareness. She also calls for challenging inappropriate behavior, understanding relevant data, and advocating for government investment in data collection on gender-based violence. Employers, she suggests, have a role in creating supportive workplace cultures that encourage survivors to seek mental health support.

The Firebrand Feminist and Internationally acclaimed authoress gets candid on her conversation on World Mental Health Day.In her exclusive conversation for World Mental Health Day, 10th October 2026 - From Transactional to Human: Changing The Conversation Around Suicide Prevention, Dr Mayaa SH connects the dots between domestic violence, mental health, and suicide prevention.She explains that  violence is not just a physical injury, it is a psychological erosion. When a person is told repeatedly that he or she is the problem, when control, shaming and isolation become normal, she begins to internalize that narrative. That internalization becomes anxiety, depression, trauma, and for many, thoughts of not wanting to live and thereby leading to mental stress and subsequent suicide as well.This is why, she says, "Suicide prevention cannot be separated from gender justice..."

Q1. Why do you feel the current narrative around suicide prevention needs to change?

Dr. Mayaa SH: Because we have made it transactional. We ask three questions, we tick boxes, we decide risk. But suicidal thoughts are not always imminent and linear. Often they are fluid, like a low hum in the background. People need space to talk about that grey area without fear of being judged or immediately locked into a system. We are uncomfortable talking about death and dying, so people learn to hide their pain until it becomes unbearable.

Q2. What does safety actually mean to someone who is struggling?

Dr. Mayaa SH: Safety is not just absence of danger. Safety is a felt sense. It is - I can tell you my truth and you will not flinch, you will not shame me, you will not try to fix me instantly. What makes someone feel safe, we cannot assume. We have to ask. And we have to listen to the answer without editing it.

Q3. What is wrong with how we usually respond when someone discloses?

Dr. Mayaa SH: We do two things. We either minimize - everything will be fine, stay positive - or we maximize and hit the panic button. Both come from our own anxiety, not the person's need. Minimizing makes the person shut down. Panicking takes away their autonomy. In both, the person stops sharing.

Q4. What does a safe first response sound like?

Dr. Mayaa SH: It starts with gratitude. Thank you for telling me. Thank you for trusting me with this. That one line calms the flood of shame after a disclosure. Then offer something very human and simple - Can I make you a cup of tea? Would you like some water? Shall we step out for a walk? When basic needs like food, rest and movement are met, intensity can reduce enough to think more clearly.

Q5. You speak about curiosity over correction. Can you explain?

Dr. Mayaa SH: Correction says - you should not feel this way. Curiosity says - tell me more about this feeling. Questions like - What has helped you when you felt like this before? What feels heavy right now? What would feel supportive in this moment? You are not convincing them they are wrong. You are sitting with them in their pain and exploring together.

Q6. How important is body language in these moments?

Dr. Mayaa SH: More important than words. When someone is at their lowest, they feel unworthy. They are scanning for rejection - a sigh, an eye roll, crossed arms, looking at the clock. Those small signals do untold harm. Safety is leaning slightly forward, uncrossed posture, soft eye contact, facing them directly, your phone away. It tells them - you are worthy of my full attention.

Q7. For healthcare providers who only have ten minutes, what can they realistically do?

Dr. Mayaa SH: Intention matters more than duration. Be honest about time. I have ten minutes right now, but you are worthy of as much time as you need. What I can do in these ten minutes is listen and connect you to support because you are worthy of help. Also explain why you are asking screening questions - These are not to judge your choices, they are to help me give you the right care. That reframes shame into care.

Q8. What role does peer support play?

Dr. Mayaa SH: Huge. Clinical settings are by design not meant for chronic emotional holding. They are busy, time-limited. Peer support - someone with lived experience - can sit with you without the clinical power dynamic. A referral to peer support is not dismissal. It is saying - there is someone who gets it, who has been there.

Q9. How do social factors like housing, food and discrimination connect to suicide prevention?

Dr. Mayaa SH: They are prevention. We talk about prevention as if it is only a mental health intervention. But how can we ask someone to be well if they are hungry, without a home, without access to libraries, community, safety? Housing, food security, anti-racism, community spaces - these are legs of the stool. If one leg is broken, the stool falls.

Q10. You have worked with diverse communities. Does safety mean different things for different people?

Dr. Mayaa SH: Absolutely. Safety is cultural, personal and contextual. For some communities, especially small communities or Indigenous communities, privacy itself is a safety concern. Historical trauma, racism, stigma around help-seeking - all shape what safe feels like. So the most important question a provider or family member can ask is - What would make you feel safe? And allow the answer to be different from what you expect.

Q11. What is the difference between suicide prevention and life promotion?

Dr. Mayaa SH: Prevention is one side of the coin - how do we keep someone alive. Life promotion is the other side - how do we help someone want to live, feel connected to purpose, culture, identity, joy. We need both. Life promotion draws on strengths - heritage, music, art, spirituality, community, land. It builds reasons for living, not just reasons not to die.

Q12. What would you say to families who are scared to ask about suicide because they fear they might plant the idea?

Dr. Mayaa SH: Asking does not plant the idea. Not asking plants isolation. When you ask gently and directly - Are you having thoughts of not wanting to live? - you open a door. And if the answer is yes, don't respond with guilt - how could you do this to us. Respond with - Thank you for telling me. I am here. We will figure this out together. I am going to keep you safe.

Q13. What is one simple question everyone should carry with them?

Dr. Mayaa SH: What do you need to feel safe right now? It is simple, it is respectful, it gives power back to the person. It moves us from assuming to listening. And sometimes, listening itself is the intervention.

Q14. What does changing the narrative finally look like to you?

Dr. Mayaa SH: It looks like rejecting the myth that suicide is cowardice, selfishness or moral failure. It is a moment when pain feels unendurable. Changing the narrative means starting curiosity long before crisis - How did we get here? What is hurting? It means building a world where people don't have to reach a breaking point to be heard.

About Dr Mayaa SH - Author, Feminist, Mental Health Crusader..

Dr Mayaa SH stands as one of contemporary India's most compelling voices at the intersection of literature, feminism, and mental health advocacy. An author, thinker, and human rights advocate, she has built a body of work that refuses to separate personal healing from social justice, and storytelling from survival.

Based in India and recognized internationally, Dr Mayaa SH is the author of Silent Shores and numerous other works that explore the psychological impact of patriarchy, systemic gender inequality, cultural silencing, and oppressive social norms. Her writing merges feminist theory with lived experience, offering not just critique, but a pathway to reclamation. For her literary and advocacy contributions, she has been honored with over 75+ National Awards as of August 2026, along with multiple Multinational, International and State-level awards.

But to describe her only as an award-winning author would be incomplete. Over the last decade, Dr Mayaa SH has emerged as a transformative force in mental health, particularly in the fields of trauma-informed care, suicide prevention, and life promotion.

From Literature to Lived Experience...

At the heart of Dr Mayaa SH's work is a simple, radical belief: Words heal where silence wounds. Empathy rebuilds the self.

Her early literary work focused on documenting how women internalize patriarchal narratives — how systemic bias, control, and shaming create cycles of self-doubt, isolation, and intergenerational trauma. Through essays, poetry, and critical discourse, she argued that healing is not linear, nor is it purely clinical. Healing is cultural, relational, and deeply political.

This perspective naturally led her into mental health advocacy. She began working with survivors of gender-based violence, individuals experiencing emotional distress, and communities where access to mental health language and resources was minimal. What she found was a profound gap — between clinical systems that were overburdened and transactional, and people who needed sustained, compassionate, human-centered holding.

Reimagining Suicide Prevention: From Transactional to Human...

Dr Mayaa SH's most significant contribution to mental health advocacy in recent years is her reframing of suicide prevention.

In her October 2026 World Mental Health Day conversation titled From Transactional to Human: Changing The Conversation Around Suicide Prevention, she challenges the dominant model that reduces prevention to three questions, risk scores, and checkboxes.

Because we have made it transactional, she says. But suicidal thoughts are not always imminent and linear. Often they are fluid, like a low hum in the background. People need space to talk about that grey area without fear of being judged or immediately locked into a system.

For Dr Mayaa SH, safety is not just the absence of danger. It is a felt sense. It is the experience of being able to tell one's truth without the listener flinching, shaming, or rushing to fix. Her work asks providers, families, and communities to ask a deceptively simple question: What do you need to feel safe right now?

This philosophy is built on five pillars, which she calls the Philosophy of Safety:

1.Safety Is A Felt Sense:

Safety is not physical alone. It is emotional, psychological, relational, and somatic. It is felt in the body and nervous system before it is understood in the mind.

2.Curiosity Over Correction: 

Instead of correcting someone — you should not feel this way — lead with curiosity — tell me more about this feeling. Questions like What has helped you before? What feels heavy right now? restore autonomy.

3.Body Language Matters: 

For someone feeling unworthy, a sigh, an eye-roll, or looking at the clock can do untold harm. Leaning forward, uncrossed posture, soft eye contact, and putting the phone away communicates: You are worthy of my full attention.

4. Life Promotion vs Prevention: 

Prevention asks, How do we keep someone alive? Life promotion asks, How do we help someone want to live? It draws on heritage, music, art, spirituality, community, and land to build reasons for living, not just reasons not to die.

5. Centering Individual Need: 

What makes one person feel safe may not work for another, especially in Indigenous communities, small communities, or communities with histories of trauma and discrimination. Safety must be personal, cultural, and contextual.

Key Themes of Her Advocacy...

Her advocacy is organized around four interconnected themes that appear across her books, talks, and workshops:

Empathy vs Sympathy:

Empathy is walking with someone. Sympathy is looking from the outside. Dr Mayaa SH trains listeners to choose empathy — to sit with pain rather than distance themselves from it.

Cycle of Pain: 

Silence feeds the cycle of psychological distress. Voice and support break it. She emphasizes that asking about suicide does not plant the idea; not asking plants isolation.

Peer Support: 

Clinical settings, by design, are busy and time-limited. Peer support — someone with lived experience — can sit without the clinical power dynamic. For Dr Mayaa SH, a referral to peer support is not dismissal; it is recognition that someone who gets it can offer what systems cannot.

Social Determinants: 

She insists that housing, food security, access to libraries and community spaces, anti-racism, and economic equity are suicide prevention. How can we ask someone to be well if they are hungry, without a home, without community? she asks. These are legs of the stool. If one leg is broken, the stool falls.

A Voice for Dignity...

What distinguishes Dr Mayaa SH is her refusal to pathologize pain. She rejects myths that frame suicide as cowardice, selfishness, or moral failure. Instead, she frames it as a moment when pain feels unendurable, and asks society to start curiosity long before crisis — How did we get here? What is hurting?

Her message for families is equally human: Begin with gratitude. Thank you for telling me. Thank you for trusting me with this. Then offer something simple — a cup of tea, water, a walk. When basic needs are met, intensity can reduce enough to think more clearly.

On World Mental Health Day, 10th October 2026, her call is clear: We must move from silence to dialogue, from stigma to empathy. Her work reminds us that mental health advocacy is not just about intervention, but about creating environments where hope can grow, where every voice is treated with dignity and care, and where people do not have to reach a breaking point to be heard.

Dr Mayaa SH continues to write, mentor, and campaign with the conviction that literature creates safe spaces to rebuild and renew — and that every story reclaimed is a step toward collective healing.

For years, Dr Mayaa SH has argued that our systems ask women to be resilient in environments designed to break them. We give them helplines but not housing. We give them risk assessments but not respectful listening. We ask them to leave but we do not make the world safe enough to leave into.

Her call on World Mental Health Day is to move beyond a checklist approach. She urges families, workplaces and healthcare providers to understand the social determinants of distress - housing, food security, economic independence, safety at home and at work, and access to community spaces.

Employers, in her references across the globe, are frontline responders. A supportive workplace culture where a survivor can seek mental health support without fear of stigma or job loss can be a lifeline. Peer support, she emphasizes, is vital - someone with lived experience who can sit with a survivor without the power dynamic of a clinical setting.

Her final message for World Mental Health Day is clear: Safety is a felt sense. It is not just the absence of danger, but the presence of empathy, dignity and choice.