The heart behind Adaiyalam.

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Adaiyalam 2025 didn’t begin as a plan.
It began as a longing: to belong, to heal, to be seen.
To create a space where mental health isn't whispered about in shame,
but celebrated in the open: through laughter, music, stories, and silence too.

Our organising committee is a collective of therapists, youth leaders, community builders, and dreamers — many of whom have lived through the very silences we’re trying to break. We are mental health professionals, artists, researchers, survivors, students, and facilitators. What binds us is this:
We believe that healing is not clinical alone,  it is cultural, collective, and deeply human.

Behind every healing circle, workshop, and stall at Adaiyalam is a person who poured in care, emotion, and effort to make it feel like home. This festival is as much a celebration of community as it is of courage.

We are here not as experts, but as co-travelers, holding space, telling stories, and stitching together what was once torn apart by stigma and silence.

 

From curating sessions that feel like exhale, to designing corners that feel like memory,
we’re building this with our hearts wide open.