Chetna Chakravarthy has a vision that will change how the UAE views Mental Health and Wellness. Chetna is the CEO of Wishtok, the UAE’s first fully-dedicated Mental Health App that combines Therapy Coaching and Spiritual Guidance into one mobile platform so everyone can access mental health support.
Get to know the driving force behind Wishtok, the app that’s defining mental wellness in the UAE, and find out how Chetna is helping individuals to better cope with their stress, anxiety, and emotional well-being one mindful step at a time.
Cosmo ME: Can you tell us a bit about your background and what inspired you to start Wishtok?
Chetna: I’ve been a Life and Relationship Coach for 15 years and counting. In my previous life, I was a marketing specialist with advertising and publishing experience. Wishtok is my fourth attempt at entrepreneurship. The first was a CSR e-magazine; then The Basket Case, a subscription model to market home chefs; the third is my current coaching practice; and the fourth is Wishtok, which in a way is a natural extension to my coaching setup.
When you train to become a coach, you are sold the dream of leading an auditorium full of people towards change. I realised very early on that this dream becomes a reality for few, and the number of people who can access and afford these gatherings of change are the minority. COVID made me further realise how difficult it was for most to ask for help, let alone pay for it. One is the mindset to invest. But the bigger problem remains – accessibility and affordability. I wrote down an idea for an app in 2020 after having coffee on Instalive every single day for months, helping people deal with uncertainty, anxiety and grief.
Cut to 2025, here we are with Wishtok and consciously choosing to keep it human run and driven in a world that’s turning to ChatGPT for therapy.
Cosmo ME: When and where did you launch Wishtok?
Chetna: We launched Wishtok in February this year in the UAE. We are currently in the process of launching in India.
Cosmo ME: What inspired the idea behind the app?
Chetna: My experience as a Life and Relationship Coach made the need for an app life Wishtok very clear. There is a huge imbalance between the number of qualified and experienced practitioners versus the number of people seeking help, and the number of people who need to get help, but cannot afford it. Wishtok is our way of bridging this gap.
Another aspect, one not spoken about often, is the cost of building and growing a coaching practice. If a practitioner only focuses on 1:1 sessions, they will eventually have to increase their fees and will become accessible and affordable to few. If they go the group sessions and self-help route, they need to invest a sizeable amount of time and money in marketing.
This app is our win-win solution to the world of wellness. We have Coaches starting at AED 150 making it affordable. Being an app that provides features from booking to completing your session in the one place you spend most of your day, i.e., your phone, makes getting help accessible. For the coaches, the marketing aspect is taken off their plate and they can now focus on just doing what they do best – being catalysts of change.
Cosmo ME: What’s been the biggest challenge so far, and how did you get through it?
Chetna: We are too new to have faced our “biggest” challenge yet. However, our current focus is on getting users to adopt Wishtok as their go to wellbeing partner.
Cosmo ME: How do your personal values or experiences show up in the app?
Chetna: Wishtok is about real change and life transformations. It is not a quick fix. Any client who works with me knows that we always speak of time as an investment towards our goals and the change we seek. There are no quick fixes and we are not in the business of selling magic bullets.
Cosmo ME: What’s it like to develop a new feature? Do you have a favourite one?
Chetna: We are currently working on making the app more interactive. Giving users a fun way to learn about themselves and I am totally inspired by the personality tests one could do in the Cosmopolitan magazines. Remember those? The idea is for users to introspect and change their internal conversations.
Cosmo ME: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned since starting Wishtok?
Chetna: People are still not open to getting help. 15 years as a coach, I thought this had shifted. But as someone who mainly does 1:1 sessions, I live in a bubble where people come to me for sessions and do the work. However, there’s a world out there that’s filled with inhibitions and feels intimidated to ask for help. People see this as an expense and try to avoid it as we do with all expenses. The ones who see it as an investment end up transforming their lives.
Cosmo ME: Running a startup can be intense. How do you take care of your own mental health? Any self-care tips?
Chetna: Guilt-free naps everyday. 20 minute power naps don’t count. Rest doesn’t have to be earned. It’s as important as breathing and eating well.
Cosmo ME: Have you heard any user stories or feedback that really stayed with you?
Chetna: Our users are usually first time help seekers. The most endearing part of building this app is to receive messages that say, “I wasn’t expecting this. I feel so good right now. I am signing up for more sessions”. We underestimate the power of a single conversation. The one thing I tell people is if you can afford one session a month, do it. You do not need to do a session every week. Do what you can, but invest in your wellbeing.
Cosmo ME: What kind of impact do you hope Wishtok will have long-term?
Chetna: I hope it helps people do life better and more joyfully. Everyone must have a toolkit that helps them tackle anxiety, FOMO, overthinking and all those other trending Instagram feelings. Life is simple. It may not always be easy. But it is simple.