The need to create sustainable and inclusive ecosystems to address mental health took the centre stage at a webinar “A tomorrow that feels like home” organised by The Banyan, a city based NGO, on Thursday.
The focus was on “Home Again”, a community mental health service by The Banyan, which since 2015, has worked with over 240 individuals with experiences of homelessness and mental illnesses.
Through this initiative, these individuals moved out of mental health institutions to live in 49 family styled homes in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
The Banyan has now announced that the Home Again programme would be active in 10 States in India and one region in Sri Lanka.
While they would work with local partners to scale up in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Kerala, new residences would be established in Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, and over 500 long stay residents of State Mental Health institutions there would be transitioned into these formed family homes with housemates.
“With a community mental health service programme like Home Again, people become independent, they leave with dignity and they are accepted by the community. They are able to lead normal lives, contribute to the local economy and continue to receive mental health support and health care,” said Kishore Kumar, Director, The Banyan.
Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi said that this model should be replicated in all districts in Tamil Nadu.
N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Publishing Group, said “Home Again” was among challenging initiatives of The Banyan given that it seeks to work with society instead of institutions.
Nicole Bardikoff, Lead for Mental Health at Grand Challenges; Paul Glick, Canada Executive Director, Rural India Supporting Trust; and S.M. Vijayanand, former Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala; spoke.
Both Grand Challenges and Rural India Supporting Trust are among the primary funders for the scale up of the Home Again initiative.
