500 students join Bengaluru run to open up conversations on mental health

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More than 2,000 people, including around 500 school students, participated in the World Mental Health Day Run at Cubbon Park in central Bengaluru on Sunday, ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10.

The youth-led initiative was organised by Imaan Zara Khan, a Grade 11 student at a private school in the city, and a 1M1B Changemaker. The event featured 3K, 5K and 10K runs and brought together students and runners in the city to encourage conversations around emotional well-being among young people.

The 3K category titled “Unspoken Run” carried the message, “A step for every conversation we never had,” with participants encouraged to see the run as part of a larger effort to make conversations around mental health easier to begin.

The event was part of Project S.A.F.E. (Student Advocacy for Emotional Well-Being), a student-led initiative founded by Imaan that focuses on adolescent mental health through research, storytelling and systems-level advocacy.

The initiative examines how signs of distress among young people are recognised, how they seek help, how adults respond and how schools can create clearer pathways to appropriate support.

“Through S.A.F.E., I want to move the conversation beyond awareness and ask a harder question: when a young person is struggling, what happens next? Who recognises the signs, who responds, and how do they reach the right support?” Imaan said.

Imaan will next present Project S.A.F.E. at the 10th 1M1B Summit at the United Nations Office in Geneva, where she will join youth leaders, institutions and stakeholders from across the world.

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