About Us
Why The Grey Sunshine Project exists
The Grey Sunshine Project (GSP) was founded in 2024 by five Master's students of Counselling Psychology from CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru.
Vision
One day every child will have access to holistic mental health support that is free of cost, empowering them to thrive emotionally, socially, and academically, both in school and beyond.
Mission
To build a movement of mental health professionals who will bridge the gap in school-based mental health support. By placing trained and in-training mental health professionals in schools, we provide accessible counselling and consultation services for students, teachers, and parents. Through this, we create emotionally safe learning spaces where children can grow, thrive, and reach their fullest potential, both inside and outside the classroom.
Core Values
Why GSP Was Founded
The Problem
A child's access to mental health support should not depend on the family they were born into.
Yet across India, thousands of children in underserved communities grow up without access to consistent mental health support, not because they do not need it, but because the systems around them were never designed to provide it.
At the same time, India's mental health workforce is growing. Hundreds of aspiring counselors graduate every year wanting to make a difference. Yet opportunities for rigorous field-based training, supervision, and systems-level learning remain limited, leaving many counselors without pathways to deeply understand the realities shaping children's lives.
We believe these challenges are connected.
The Insight
Expanding access is not only about placing more counselors in schools.
It is about developing counselors who can understand children within the larger systems that influence them, families, classrooms, schools, communities, and society.
Counselors who can navigate inequity.
Counselors who can build partnerships.
Counselors who can influence systems.
Counselors who see leadership as part of their role.
The Solution
At The Grey Sunshine Project, we develop counselor-leaders who work alongside children, families, teachers, schools, and communities to make mental health support more accessible where it is needed most.
We call this Counselling as Leadership.
Because counseling is not only about what happens inside a one-on-one session.
It is also about understanding and transforming the systems that shape a child's life.
Theory of Change
We believe that every child deserves access to holistic mental health support, regardless of their socioeconomic background.
However, many underserved schools lack access to trained mental health professionals, while many aspiring counselors graduate without opportunities for rigorous field-based learning, supervision, and exposure to the realities shaping children's lives.
To address this gap, The Grey Sunshine Project develops counselor-leaders through structured training, supervision, and school-based fellowship experiences.
By placing trained and in-training mental health professionals in underserved schools, we provide accessible counselling and consultation services for children, teachers, and parents while simultaneously strengthening the capacity of the mental health workforce.
As counselor-leaders work across students, families, teachers, schools, and communities, they create emotionally safe learning environments and expand access to mental health support where it is needed most.
Ultimately, we envision a future where every child has access to free, holistic mental health support and the opportunity to thrive both in school and beyond.
What Do We Witness Today?
Today, The Grey Sunshine Project builds a pipeline of counselor-leaders by placing psychology students and early-career mental health professionals in underserved schools through a structured fellowship model.
Fellows receive training, supervision, and field-based learning while providing free mental health support to children through one-on-one counseling, consultations with teachers and parents, workshops, and school-wide interventions.
- 1Understanding student and school needs through assessment and observation
- 2Implementing targeted interventions
- 3Measuring impact to strengthen outcomes for children and schools
Through this model, we simultaneously expand access to mental health support for children and develop the next generation of counselors who can work across systems to advance mental health equity.
Who GSP Serves
Children
Children studying in underserved and low-fee private schools and learning centres through:
- Individual counselling
- Group counselling
- Mental health interventions
Teachers
Through:
- Consultations
- Capacity-building workshops
- School-based mental health support
Parents and Caregivers
Through:
- Consultations
- Workshops
- Guidance and support
Trainee Psychologists and Early Career Professionals
- Training & Mentorship
- Placement Opportunities
- Hands-on approach
- Networking and Collaboration Opportunities
- Micro-skills training and feedback