Pashe Achhi: Free Mental-Health Support After the 2024 Crisis
When a nation needed support, Pashe Achhi answered
Pashe Achhi (পাশে আছি, “we are by your side”) is Chum Wellness’s own community response born from the July–August 2024 mass uprising in Bangladesh. It is not a paying corporate client but a free initiative, and it shows the same principles that shape our corporate mental health programme for employers: reach people where distress is highest, deliver professional care with dignity, and treat mental strength as something a community can rebuild together. In the weeks after the uprising, many people across the country were left coping with stress, anxiety, depression, and panic, and a coordinated mental-health response was urgently needed.
What Chum Wellness delivered
Pashe Achhi was a joint initiative of Psycoach Bangladesh, Mental Health Professionals for Bangladesh (MHPB), and Chum Wellness — a coalition assembled for the moment. Together, a team of more than 35 psychologists volunteered to provide free mental-health care for two months from August 2024. The work was supervised by Saima Akhtar (Psycoach Bangladesh), Zohora Parveen (MHPB), and Rafiul Islam (Chum Wellness).
The goal was practical rather than clinical jargon: help affected people rebuild their mental strength, find workable coping strategies, and gradually return to everyday life with hope for the future. As MHPB convener Zohora Parveen put it, “It is very necessary to know some psychological strategies to carry on and gradually revive stalled life.”
Care built around real distress
The country was witnessing genuine socio-psychological strain — heightened stress, reduced tolerance, and widespread distress that cut across households, campuses, and workplaces. The volunteer psychologists focused on steadying people through that acute period, offering a safe space to talk and concrete tools to carry forward. For Chum Wellness, Pashe Achhi reflects what we stand for: making compassionate, professional mental-health support accessible when people need it most.
Why it matters for teams in Bangladesh
National crises do not stay outside the office. The same anxiety, grief, and fatigue that Pashe Achhi met in the community walk into workplaces every day, affecting focus, attendance, and how colleagues treat one another. Workplace mental health in Bangladesh is still an emerging conversation, and employers who take it seriously build steadier, more resilient teams.
An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) applies the same thinking inside a company: confidential access to trained psychologists, early support before problems escalate, and a culture that treats employee wellbeing as core to performance rather than an afterthought. Where Pashe Achhi mobilised volunteers for a two-month emergency, a structured programme gives your people year-round, dependable support. You can see how this translates into ongoing employer support through our EAP for organisations and read how we approach other engagements in our programme case studies.
From crisis response to lasting resilience
What Pashe Achhi proved at national scale — that professional, compassionate care delivered quickly changes how people cope — is exactly what a good corporate wellbeing partnership delivers quietly, every week. Whether your team is navigating a difficult period or you simply want to put proper mental-health foundations in place, the model is the same: qualified clinicians, honest support, and a plan matched to your people.
Bring the same care to your workplace
If Pashe Achhi speaks to the kind of support you want for your own employees, Chum Wellness can help you design it. Explore our full offering for employers on the Chum for Business hub, or Request a proposal to start building a mental-health programme that keeps your team steady, supported, and by each other’s side.