To all 11,301 people who signed my petition, THIS ONE'S FOR YOU! Simply put, our petition has won. This is a memorable day. I’m over the moon. This may be a long read. Please bear with me. I remember the summer of 2018, when I was cooped up in my bedroom, with my laptop, a book and a big dream. I was going to do my part to change the way maternal mental health was looked at in the health sector. Over the last four years, I met with experts from the mental health community, interacted with survivors, and in May 2021, I finally launched my petition on Change.org – all in the effort to make that idea come to life. And today, 8 months and 20 days later, the day has finally come, where I RAISE MY FLAG OF VICTORY! I started this petition on 29 May 2021 with a simple ask to the government of my state, Karnataka – to conduct mandatory screening of mental health in all perinatal women in Karnataka. Perinatal means the period from pregnancy to 2 years after childbirth. Given the barriers around anything to do with mental health, I was prepared to dedicate a minimum of the next three years of my life to making this a reality. Not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that it would take a mere eight months. This was made possible by the prompt action of the officials in the Dept. of Health, Government of Karnataka, whom I had the opportunity to meet in person here in Bengaluru today. I met with Shri Randeep D (IAS), the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Rajani P, the Deputy Director of Mental Health, and Dr. Rajakumar N, the Deputy Director of Maternal Health to discuss my campaign. I congratulated them on their recent move to include mental health questions in the thayi card under the Matru Chaitanya Scheme. And put forth 4 recommendations to scale up Karnataka’s maternal mental health programme to become accessible to all perinatal women. I’ll be honest, I walked into that meeting with limited expectations, as I have never really met government officials before, let alone such senior officials. But as it progressed, I felt more hopeful, as the dignitaries very graciously created a conducive environment for collaborative dialogue. From awareness campaigns, to mandating mental health screening in the private health space, we discussed action points way beyond the scope of what I had expected. I am proud to share with you all that as per our discussion, in the coming weeks, the health department will kickstart its efforts to launch a holistic campaign on maternal mental health – By extending the reach of mental health screenings via the thayi card to all health centers, training first responders in pregnancy to conduct effective screenings, and spreading awareness via various media. The Health Commissioner even invited me to act as a convener to bring all stakeholders involved together, to keep this campaign going. I was so humbled when he congratulated and thanked me for launching this petition on behalf of the public. I have a few people to thank myself – all the mental health experts who have guided me from the onset of this campaign, especially Dr. Ashlesha and Dr. Prabha, Namrata Kilpady and my family at Change.org, the brave survivors of PPD who shared their stories, my team at Patronus, and most importantly, all 11,301 of you who signed my petition. Thank you for showing faith in my dream. This happened because of you. In all the times that I have had self doubt or lost hope about where this campaign was going, it was this 11000 strong family that helped my #BeatMyBlues, and keep pushing forward. This win is as much yours, as it is mine. It is with a heart so full that I seal this petition, with a big stamp of victory. A virtual hug to every one of you. Please share the news far and wide -- We are helping #BeatTheBlues together! I look forward to your comments on how this announcement made you feel. Lastly, I want this victory to act as precedent for the fact that you do not need to have experienced a problem to become a part of the solution. If I, a 22 year old, who is nowhere close to becoming a mother, can lead a campaign on maternal health, you can do it too. Thank you for everything, Anvita Nair Twitter: @NairAnvita Instagram: anvita_nair14