Our Founding Story
Our founder's brilliant brother - Salil Chaudhry, was bullied in school, had an emotional breakdown, and was further diagnosed with mental health issue. Family, Teachers, and Friends missed early signs of risks and hence missed early interventions. The challenge is to identify these emotional risks for our children, adolescents, and youth proactively and that too at scale.
What happened with the founder's brother should never happen with any student - and that is why we exist.

Inspired by personal adversity, driven by purpose, fueled by passion
Our Timeline
From founding vision to global recognition: A decade of innovation in student mental health and well-being
Born from personal experience and deep compassion, TrustCircle emerged to revolutionize the perception of emotional well-being—transforming it from a stigmatized topic into a celebrated strength. This marked the beginning of our movement for preventative student mental health support worldwide.
Our collaboration with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health established TrustCircle's scientific credibility through rigorous research and evidence-based field testing. This partnership yielded groundbreaking methodologies that redefined how student well-being is measured, understood, and nurtured across diverse educational environments.
TrustCircle's expansion into Kenya and Nigeria represented more than geographical growth—it demonstrated our commitment to creating culturally responsive mental health tools for underserved communities. This milestone transformed us from a promising innovation into a global force for inclusive well-being.
Founder Sachin Chaudhry's induction into the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship validated our vision as a transformative social innovation. Simultaneously, TrustCircle secured vital funding from Social Alpha and established a strategic research partnership with the United Kingdom's Warwick University—elevating our platform into a recognized movement for systemic change.
Our launch in California public schools marked a pivotal integration of mental health support into mainstream education. TrustCircle equipped students with essential tools for emotional awareness, reflection, and resilience—while securing additional research funding from the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) to deepen our collaboration with the WHO Research Center.
During the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19, TrustCircle provided critical support across Hawaiʻi, creating secure digital spaces for adolescents to process emotions and maintain connections. Our platform became an essential resource for resilience when traditional support systems were disrupted by the global pandemic.
Our designation as an official UNDP DigitalX solution amplified TrustCircle's visibility across 190+ countries, validating our approach of combining technology with empathy to transform global mental health care. This recognition coincided with strategic partnerships with SOFINA and The King Baudouin Foundation, expanding our impact for K-12 students throughout Asia and beyond.
TrustCircle's selection among just 51 global mental health programs by the Healthy Brains Global Initiative (HBGI)—a collaborative effort between WHO, UNICEF, and the World Bank—established us as a leading innovation in the field. Our partnerships with UNICEF India and the Ministry of Youth Affairs created pathways for nationwide emotional learning initiatives reaching millions of students.
Our recognition at the G20 Summit as one of the most scalable innovations for student mental health coincided with TrustCircle's adoption as official policy across all Hawaiʻi public schools. This evolution from school-based program to statewide educational standard demonstrated how emotional well-being could be successfully integrated into educational frameworks nationwide.
Earning the Real Leaders Top Impact Company Award in the 'Ones to Watch' category validated our innovative approach to student well-being in educational settings. Our landmark partnership with the Piramal Foundation launched initiatives empowering over one million students across India's most vulnerable and underserved communities, dramatically expanding our global footprint.
We're architecting tomorrow's learning ecosystems through responsible AI implementation and policy innovation. Our strategic alliances with the EDSAFE AI Council, SETDA, and CoSN position TrustCircle at the critical intersection of emerging technology, educational equity, and student mental well-being—shaping the future of holistic education worldwide.
"What started as a response to my brother Salil’s silent adversity has grown into a global movement—one where every K–12 student is seen, heard, and empowered to build emotional resilience. This journey is about more than well-being; it’s about preparing every child to face life with strength, empathy, and self-awareness."

Our Global Advisors
TrustCircle is guided by world-class experts in mental health, education, and technology

Dr. R. Thara
Chairman, SCARF, The WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Research

Melissa Larkin-Skinner
MA, LMHC - Regional Chief Executive Officer, Centerstone, Florida

Dr. Jennifer Bencie
MD, MSA - Florida Department of Health, Manatee County

Dr. Elyn Saks
MacArthur Fellow, Associate Dean & Professor at the University of Southern California

Professor Matcheri Keshavan
Vice-Chair for Public Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Chris Underhill
Social Entrepreneur / Founder BasicNeeds & citiesRISE

Ingrid Daniels
President Elect World Federation for Mental Health & Director Cape Mental Health

Dr. Vandana Gopikumar
Co-founder - The Banyan and The Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health (BALM)

Keris Jan Myrick
Ex-President - NAMI

Dr. Linda Nadia Hole MD
Integrative Medicine Expert / Qigong Master

Ed Martin
Chief OmniWin Officer Co-founder at 5thelement.group

Wendy Diamond
CEO/Founder | LDP Ventures/WEDO #ChooseWOMEN Impact Investor | Humanitarian | Animal Advocate

Richard Swart
PhD - Early Stage Venture Capital Collective Intelligence | AI | Impact Investor

Atul Satija
Founder & CEO, The/Nudge Foundation

Ashish Garg
Founder & CEO, Eltropy Inc

Janet C Salazar
President and Executive Chairman Chief & Permanent Representative to the United Nations Foundation for the Support of the United Nations (FSUN)

Ron Klein
THE GRANDFATHER OF POSSIBILITIES™ Inventor - Credit Card Magnetic Strip

Frank Shankwitz
Creator & Founder, Make-A-Wish Foundation

Arjun Malhotra
Co-Founder HCL, Former Chairman/CEO, Headstrong