Taraki

What it is: Taraki, a word in Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi that means to progress, is a mental health organisation for Punjabi communities in Britain. It describes its work as four mechanisms of change: awareness, education, application and research. It is a private company limited by guarantee, Taraki Wellbeing, number 11906363 at Companies House, incorporated on 26 March 2019 with its registered office in Birmingham.

How it began: Taraki's own site says Shuranjeet Singh founded it in October 2017 after his own mental health difficulties as a student. He was supported by friends but saw that many in Punjabi communities could not find help. The West Midlands Combined Authority repeated this in May 2019 when it gave him a Thrive West Midlands Mental Health Star award in the young person category, and reported that he had reached nearly 2,000 people, at least half of them in the West Midlands, since founding Taraki.

Leaders: Shuranjeet Singh is founder and chief executive, and also a director. Its site lists three other directors, Amrita Sohal, Harr-Joht Kaur and Navraj Dhesi, and describes hubs for administration, media, training, social support and research. These are Taraki's own descriptions of itself.

Key moments

• October 2017: founded.
• 2018: Chai in the City begins, a project creating spaces for Punjabi men to talk about mental health and other parts of life (Asia Samachar).
• October 2022: with the men's health charity Movember, which put in 66,000 pounds, Taraki began piloting peer support training in West Yorkshire. Eighteen mental health champions were to be trained over six months in 12 sessions, with the Heera Foundation in Leicester and Sikh Alliance Yorkshire as partners.
• By 2026 its site lists a resource hub with material in English, Punjabi in Gurmukhi and Punjabi in Shahmukhi, two reports on youth mental health in Punjab, a literature review and a policy analysis, and an evaluation of its Punjabi men's peer support work.

Where it stands: Taraki is active and describes itself as a movement for lasting change. Our sources are its own site, the West Midlands Combined Authority, Companies House and Asia Samachar; we found no independent evaluation of its results.