Alanna Sethi’s HOPE for the future: providing accessible mental health worldwide
UTM student Alanna Sethi is named one of the top 10 finalists for Varkey Foundation and Chegg.org’s Global Student Prize 2024.

Alanna Sethi is an undergraduate student studying psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) who started her non-profit mental health organization, Helping Our Planet Earth (HOPE). In recognition of her achievements, Sethi was recently named one of the top ten finalists for the Global Student Prize 2024, an accomplishment she values as an honour. 

The prize, which is provided by the Varkey Foundation in partnership with Chegg.org, is an annual C$100,000 award that is presented to students who have positively impacted their community. The prize aims to spotlight students who have shown their dedication to global citizenship while excelling in skills such as leadership and creativity. 

In an interview with The Medium, Sethi shares her successes and challenges in founding HOPE and how her experiences at UTM and around the world have shaped her organization.

Founding a non-profit at an early age

Sethi’s journey began when she was 11 years old when she founded a non-profit organization in Hong Kong to highlight animal welfare and environmental issues. In 2019, as someone who faced mental health struggles herself, Sethi transformed the organization to help combat mental health. Today, HOPE focuses on making mental health accessible for youth across the globe while also aiming to “create self-sustaining wellness ecosystems,” as mentioned on their website.

While Sethi did not win the prize this year, she shared that if she had, she would have invested the award of C$100,000 in developing self-sustaining wellness ecosystems in 15 communities across the Asia Pacific region. 

Sethi wants HOPE to provide individuals with tools to regulate their mental health. These tools are grounded in therapeutic modalities, such as acceptance and commitment therapy, schema therapy, and mindfulness. 

Reflecting on HOPE’s successes, she shared that the non-profit has helped individuals learn how to manage sources of stress and improve life satisfaction. HOPE has also influenced other individuals to take committed actions to pursue their goals. To highlight this, Sethi recalled, “One high school student developed skills through her internship with us to become a full-time lead marketing executive at an international company.”   

When asked about her successes and challenges in developing HOPE, Sethi confided that being homeschooled during her last two years of high school helped her manage her time. Homeschooling allowed Sethi to balance her time between studying and working part-time. However, that doesn’t mean it was easy to start a non-profit at a young age. 

“You definitely face burnout a lot,” Sethi explained. “It’s really important to keep checking in with yourself, take time out when you need it, but most importantly, keep working on refilling your cup as you go to prevent burnout to begin with.” 

These challenges have made Sethi appreciate and utilize the mental health and wellness strategies she advocates for. “It’s essential to teach from experience,” Sethi commented.

Improving HOPE using existing wellness research

In addition to founding a non-profit, Sethi is also a certified yoga instructor with expertise in holistic wellness. In 2023, she received a scholarship to attend Yintelligence, School of Yin and Functional Yoga. Sethi explained that Yintelligence integrates traditional practices into modern science to help individuals “nurture their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.”

The virtual courses at Yintelligence furthered Sethi’s knowledge about yin yoga and fascia, traditional Chinese medicine, holistic health, and functional anatomy. She strives to incorporate these perspectives into her mindfulness research at UTM and the mental health education and wellness programming at HOPE. 

As part of this programming, HOPE occasionally offers a module on holistic wellness, which includes yoga for mental health. The non-profit also incorporates yoga into its initiatives and framework through other avenues such as experiential wellness programming, peer support activities, and events. 

Sethi’s mindfulness research at UTM shaped the initiatives at HOPE. Another exciting project Sethi is working on is with UTM course PSY401 Knowledge Translation, where students participate in seminars to develop effective communication skills for conveying scientific discoveries and actively engage in the process of knowledge translation.

Improving mental health resources anywhere in the world

A significant part of Sethi’s personal and professional story is her experience living in different countries, including Japan, Singapore, and England. Each country has shaped Sethi’s understanding of mental health and its stigma, such as the disparity of mental health resources, the variety of approaches to combating mental health, and the varied impact of mental health on communities. Having lived in various communities, Sethi is committed to making HOPE accessible globally and not just in Hong Kong.

“It’s important to me that young people have access to mental health resources and support regardless of their geography,” Sethi explained. “Particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, there is higher stigma, lower mental health literacy, and less resources and funding compared to many other parts of the world like North America and the United Kingdom.”

Sethi commented that “due to the stigma in the Asia-Pacific, people are only really starting to talk about mental health now.” She shared that the term “mental health” is considered sensitive in certain communities in Hong Kong.

Next steps for HOPE

Despite not receiving the Global Student Prize, being named as a finalist provided HOPE with some recognition as more people have reached out to the organization to collaborate. Currently, HOPE is exploring these opportunities, hoping to work with other changemakers across the Asia-Pacific region to foster youth action for mental health. 

One way the organization hopes to increase its impact is by joining the platform Youthtopia for their upcoming annual event YOUNITE, where changemakers share experiences and learn from each other. HOPE plans to announce more details about this exciting opportunity soon. 

How to get involved

For anyone interested in starting a non-profit, particularly youth, Sethi advised, “Get started now. There are so many opportunities out there and so many people willing to help. Just because there are some people telling you not to, it doesn’t mean you have to listen.”

To get involved with HOPE, you can reach them via their website at HelpingOurPlanetEarth.org/contact.

If you are struggling with mental health, visit their website at HelpingOurPlanetEarth.org or the Government of Canada mental health support page.