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Youth wellbeing guru and Springdale College, Lucknow
with 250 secondary students signing
up for it. This program, specially
customised for 15-18-year-olds,
“inspires young minds to rise above
self-defeating tendencies and
supports them with an actionable
roadmap towards their goal of suc-
cess”. Four years later in 2022, Desai
ideated the WellSpire curriculum
for 10-14 year-olds and last year, the
Teacher Wellbeing Program.
Direct talk. “WellSpire is the North
Star of ConsciousLeap’s programs.
It integrates SEL and life skills
within the Make YOU Happen
framework. This three-year online
program awakens wellbeing in
young children through self-
awareness and self-empowerment.
Well-trained counselors and
Desai (centre): wellbeing through self-awareness and self-empowerment coaches have contributed to design
a journaling-based curriculum to
ANJAY DESAI is founder-CEO and awakening,” he conceptualised enable early teens to understand
of ConsciousLeap Insights Pvt. the Make YOU Happen program “to themselves better through balanced
SLtd (estb.2013), a Mumbai- enable people to realise their dreams introspection, and develop key life
based company that offers holistic, embedded in the unconscious by skills to strengthen aspects of their
mental well-being and life skills triggering their consciousness.” personality, and guide them to create
programmes to schools. Initially, experiential Make YOU practical and effective roadmaps to
Its flagship programmes are the Happen workshops were restricted achieve set goals. Over 50 schools
Make YOU Happen Program and to corporates. But over time, with with 11,000 children have already
WellSpire for students as also its school principals and leaders signed up for WellSpire,” says Desai,
Teacher Wellbeing Program. Thus expressing interest in equipping who recently (2023) registered
far the company’s programmes have children with sustainable wellbeing the ConsciousLeap Wellbeing
been provided to more than 16,000 and SEL (social and emotional learn- Foundation to take the company’s
students and 200 teachers in over 70 ing) skills, Desai resolved to address programmes to under-privileged
education institutions countrywide. the issue of infusing spirituality and children and youth.
Newspeg. ConsciousLeap’s latest mental well-being into the “pedantic Future plans. With ConsciousLeap’s
initiative — the Teacher Wellbe- education system”. experiential wellbeing programmes
ing Program — was launched late “The idea was to highlight the being enthusiastically welcomed by
last year (2024) to “reduce teacher importance of children’s mental and schools, Desai has drawn up future
burnout and turnover rates, ensuring emotional well-being by awakening expansion plans. “We hope to expand
continuity and stability in education their positivity and spirituality. Dur- our reach to a substantially larger
delivery”. ing this time when I was designing number of schools this year. We also
History. A qualified chartered ac- content for holistic education, I re- plan to invest in AI-powered chatbots
countant and alum of the top-ranked alised it was also important to equip to provide wellbeing counseling and
IIM-Bangalore, Desai began his people with SEL skill-sets to succeed training to youth and teachers. In
career at Citibank (1987-2000) fol- in life and workplaces. That’s when an increasingly complex world, it’s
lowed by a 13-year stint as an entre- we diversified into the education sec- imperative to provide children and
preneur during which he co-founded tor,” recalls Desai, who has authored youth the skills to develop SEL and
several start-ups including Mphasis a graphic novel Jasmine Builds on well-being to achieve personal and
Incubation, Aurionpro Solutions and Shifting Sands (2015). professional goals. That’s our objec-
Kairoleaf Analytics. However in 2013 Desai recalls the Make YOU Hap- tive at ConsciousLeap,” says Desai.
after 25 years in the corporate sector pen program was piloted in 2018 in Wind beneath your wings!
and following a “spiritual experience the Riverside School, Ahmedabad, Mansi Shah (Mumbai)

46 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2025