Vinu Jaglan — philosophy, psychology, politics, society and education
Getting Started

The first one
is free

Twenty to thirty minutes, no charge and no obligation. Its only job is to work out whether this helps you — and if it does not, to point you somewhere that will.

4Steps
If you are in crisis right now

This page is not the right place. Counselling sessions are scheduled, not immediate, and I am not an emergency service. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, please contact one of these now — they are free, staffed around the clock, and answering is their whole job.

Tele-MANAS · 14416KIRAN · 1800-599-0019 AASRA · 9820466726Emergency · 112
01

How to start

Four steps. Nothing is charged until step four.

STEP 01

Send a message

A couple of lines about what is going on. You do not need the right words for it.

STEP 02

Free first call

Twenty to thirty minutes. What you are dealing with, and whether this is the right fit.

STEP 03

An honest answer

Either we plan sessions, or I tell you that you need a clinical professional and help find one.

STEP 04

Begin

A time that works for you, a private video link, and the first real session.

What to say in that first message

You do not need to explain yourself well. If you could explain it cleanly you probably would not need the session. A few rough lines is genuinely enough.

Roughly this much

1. What is going on — even vaguely
2. How long it has been like this
3. Whether you have spoken to anyone before
4. When you are usually free

It stays private

That message goes to one inbox, read by one person. Nothing is shared with anyone, ever, outside the risk-to-life exception explained before the first session.

Send a message
02

Things people worry about

Six questions that come up almost every time.

6Answers

There is no minimum threshold. People wait until things are unbearable because they think smaller problems do not qualify — which is exactly how small problems become unbearable ones. If it is taking up space in your head, that is sufficient reason.

Not from me. No one is informed that you booked, attended or said anything. If you are a minor there are some legal limits around guardian consent, and those will be explained honestly before we begin rather than discovered later.

No — and nobody here is qualified to make that call. Medication is a psychiatrist's decision. If your situation points that way you will be told and referred, but no medical advice is given in these sessions.

Only if I made it one, and I do not. Your faith is yours and the session is about you, not about what I think. If your religion is a source of strength, we work with it. If it is a source of conflict, we look at that honestly. Nobody gets argued out of anything in a counselling room.

Then we start somewhere else and circle towards it. Nobody is pushed. Plenty of first sessions are spent on ordinary things while the actual reason sits quietly in the corner until it is ready. That is a normal and perfectly acceptable use of the hour.

Yes, at any point, with no explanation required. There are no packages, no minimum commitment and no follow-up messages asking you to come back. If it is not helping, stopping is the correct decision.

Nothing to lose in one conversation

Free, private, and no obligation whatsoever. Worst case, you get an honest answer about who you should actually be speaking to.