Kangaroo Minds’ Post

Spent a lovely morning yesterday at Kahani Tree for the launch of "Happiness City", a stunning picture book written by Bhawna Jaimini, illustrated by Deepa Balsavar, & published by Nisha Nair-Gupta from The People Place Project. Beautiful and vivid in it's illustrations, the pages of this book are bursting with colour and vibrant ideas. Empowering and thought provoking in it's narratives, it pushes us to think (& often rethink) the realities of the spaces we live in today, the inequalities and disparities of access to basic resources, while also thinking about what the kinder and happier version of these very spaces would look like. It pushes us to a zone where we not just confront these harsh realities but also allow ourselves to imagine what an ideal cityscape would look like, and what truly would make a Happiness City. Personally for me, this book really resonated with the work we striving to do at Kangaroo Minds, especially around recognising the complexities which influence our overall sense of Wellbeing and our Mental Health, esepcially at a community level. I think we often forget how our day to day lives, the spaces we live in & matters of social justices such as food poverty, inequality, homelessness and displacement to name a few. By involving underserved communities in making decisions about matters which involve them we can empower people and give them the power of choice, and this can make such a big difference to their sense of belonging, ownership and Wellbeing. So here's to the power of crayons, and striving to build our own Happiness City, one which is inclusive, kind and welcoming! 🌱🙌🏻 #KangarooMinds #MentalHealthMatters #CommunitySpaces #ChildrensBooks #ChildrensPictureBooks #MentalHealth #MentalHealthAwareness #Cityscapes #UrbanPlanning #Urbanisation #GreenSpaces #HappinessCity #Kindness #SocialJustice #BuildBetter #TogetherWeCan #MentalHealth #Wellbeing #MakeADifference #ChildrensLiterature #ReimagineTheFuture #BuildBackStronger #BookLaunch #PictureBooks #Empowerment #LeadTheChange #BeTheChange #Inclusivity #Diversity #KindnessMatters #Empathy #CelebratingDiversity Sangeeta Mehta Bhansali