Deepika Padukone proudly spoke about the work her mental health foundation Live Love Laugh has done in rural areas as she wrote a note on World Mental Health Day on October 10. Before the event, Deepika visited the rural areas of Thiruvallaur in Tamil Nadu. She interacted with mental health patients, their caregivers, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), and ASHA workers.

She took to her Instagram account on Monday to share pictures of her visit. She tagged the Instagram page of her foundation. Deepika wrote, “Since our inception, we have been relentless in our efforts to improve the lives of those experiencing mental illness, as well as the lives of their caregivers. Expanding our rural outreach program to Tamil Nadu is one more important step towards making mental health care accessible and affordable for all.”

The picture showed Deepika interacting with caregivers and visiting the homes of the foundation’s beneficiaries. One picture showed her drinking tea in a paper cup with her entourage among others. In another picture, she held a woman’s hand while wiping her tears with a sari.

The foundation’s Instagram page shared several more photos and videos from the two-day visit. A video from the first day of the tour shows her telling someone to ‘study hard, study well.’ “Overwhelming. Makes you realise that there’s so much more work to be done,” said she about her visit.

Her voice-over in a video from the second day of the tour can be heard. She told, “It’s been five years since our first rural visit. We met someone today where in the last 6 months, their life has changed. When you hear these stories first hand, is when you feel like absolutely everything that we are doing and of course, with the support of our donors, it all comes together, and gives it all meaning and purpose.”

The superstar Deepika Padukone launched her foundation, Live Love Laugh, after revealing in an interview in 2015 that she had struggled with depression a year earlier and had sought professional help after her mother noticed the symptoms.