AIIMS Delhi launches ‘Never Alone’ app to help students fight stress and anxiety

India is staring at a brutal mental health crisis. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), more than 1.7 lakh people died by suicide in 2022 — the highest figure in 56 years.

The most vulnerable are young adults: those between 18 and 30 years accounted for 35 per cent of all suicides.On World Suicide Prevention Day, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi unveiled a counter-offensive: an AI-powered mental health and wellness programme called Never Alone. The initiative is designed to tear down stigma, break the silence, and ensure that help reaches students before despair claims them.

An app that refuses silence

The Never Alone app is not a symbolic gesture. It offers 24/7 screening, counselling, intervention, and follow-up care through a secure, web-based platform accessible via WhatsApp. The service ensures students can connect instantly to psychiatrists, counsellors, and faculty members, virtually or offline.The financial model is deliberately minimal. “The app provides personalised and secure mental health screening for just 70 paise per student per day for institutions with 5 thousand students,” explained Dr.

Nand Kumar, Professor of Psychiatry at AIIMS Delhi. For private colleges, this subscription cost makes preventive care affordable at scale.

A collective shield against despair

The initiative has already been rolled out at AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Bhubaneswar, and the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Shahdara. AIIMS plans to expand it nationwide through the Global Centre of Integrative Health (GCIH), a not-for-profit mentored by AIIMS alumnus Dr.

Deepak Chopra.The goal is to eliminate barriers to access and shame. Anonymous, secure, and immediate, the system guarantees that every cry for help, whether typed in the dead of night or voiced in panic, meets a response.

Suicide: A crisis without borders

Globally, suicide claims 727,000 lives each year — one every 45 seconds — with nearly 73 per cent of cases in low- and middle-income countries. India stands at the eye of this storm, with NCRB data showing a devastating upward trend.“Many suicides are not premeditated but impulsive, triggered by relationship disputes, financial crises, chronic illness, or sheer inability to cope with stress,” Dr Nand Kumar, professor of psychiatry at AIIMS, said to TNN. The common thread, experts underline, is hopelessness, compounded by silence.

Beyond policy, towards humanity

In 2022, the central government announced a national suicide prevention strategy, aiming to cut suicides by 10 per cent annually until 2030.

But experts insist that students and youth, the demographic most at risk, require targeted, urgent interventions.The Never Alone app represents precisely that urgency: a blend of artificial intelligence, psychiatry, and social support. It ensures suicide prevention does not wait for scheduled appointments or for stigma to fade on its own.

A battle that must be won

“Suicide can affect anyone, rich or poor, rural or urban. But loneliness and lack of support are often the tipping points,” Dr.

Kumar said to TNN. “With Never Alone, we want to ensure no student feels isolated, and every cry for help finds an answer.”The launch is more than a technological innovation; it is a moral intervention. In a country where academic ambition too often collides with despair, AIIMS Delhi has delivered a lifeline. Never Alone is not just an app; it is a vow that no student should ever stand at the edge without support.