Anjali works in one of the most neglected areas of health. Mental Illness is not a priority as a health issue in any part of the world, more so in developing nations like India. Anjali’s thrust is two fold – one, to establish Mental Illness within the mainstream health paradigm of India and two, to ‘speak for’ a large population of marginalized people with mental illness vis-à-vis their right to a professional and inclusive system of care and treatment.
Anjali works with a group of people who have suffered both ‘stigma’ and are ‘voiceless’. They are men and women who suffer from chronic mental illnesses, living in state institutions of care and treatment. Anjali’s mission is to move from institutionalization to full rehabilitation of people with mental illness, ensuring participation and consent of the mentally-ill in all decisions related to her life.
Anjali works in 3 mental hospitals in West Bengal: Pavlov Mental Hospital, Lumbini Park Mental Hospital, and Bahrampur Mental Hospital. They provide institutionalized patients with a comprehensive package of healthcare services and therapies that supplements those available to them in the government mental hospitals. In the process, Anjali has professionalized care and treatment inside state systems. And evolved a process that avoids coercive and non-participatory forms of treatment by different categories of care givers.
They recognize that the stigma attached to people with psychosocial disability is as destructive as the condition itself. Anjali gives its participants a voice and, the confidence to interact and negotiate with families, doctors and other caregivers. Anjali continuously creates spaces enabling people with acute mental illnesses to exercise their right to self determination. Anjali’s rehabilitation and re-integration package is geared towards equipping persons with mental illnesses to lead a life of full potential.
Key Objectives
