Kudos on your fine work in
alleviating the treatable illnesses of
the womankind. Can you please tell
us briefly about The Banyan's journey
in the last twelve years; its origin,
mission, scope of activities, funding,
reach of operations etc?
The Banyan began fourteen years
back as a humanistic response to
restore hope and dignity to homeless
women with mental illness. Abused
and stripped of their identities, their
existence is often obscured and
invisible to a larger part of society.
Our journey has been an endeavor to
ensure these women the right to
rescue, the right to care and the right
to a life of freedom and dignity in
society.
This movement began in 1993
out of a small three bedroom rented
apartment that sheltered and cared
for women rescued from the streets
of Chennai. The apartment was the
beginning of what is now
"Adaikalam", Banyan's transit home
that currently houses over 320
women in our three- storey facility in
Mogappair. 1994 saw The Banyan's
first rehabilitation and since then,
there has been no looking back. To
date, over 1500 women have passed
the doors of the Banyan and more
than 850 have regained their lives by
tracing lost steps back to their
families and communities.
Our journey has seen us through
many ups and downs; through many
moments of inspiration and also
despair. The spirit of hope and
passion has kept this movement alive
andwe have fought to give a newlease
of life to the many people who come
in touch with us. In the year 2000, the
Banyan witnessed the establishment
of Lok Adalat an innovation that
humanized the process of legally
committing a homeless person to The
Banyan. We have in the last decade
revolutionized mental health care by caring for one of the most
marginalized sections of society; by
establishing scientific and humane
care systems in mental health care
and by facilitating people who have
been restored to health to make
choices about their future life and
restoring them back to communities.
The scope of our journey has
expanded tremendously in the past
year, with our experience and
understanding of the sector lending
fresh flavor to our work. Our thrust is
on increasing stakeholders in Mental
Health Care for homeless persons
through transfer of our experience
through partnerships with
Government, Police and NGOs.
Thewinter of 2005 sawus venture
into partnerships and active advocacy
with the launch of the Mental Health
Helpline Dial 100 in a partnership
agreement with the Chennai City
Police and the Institute of Mental
Health, Department of Health, Go TN.
We have now taken our first steps
towards transferring our experience to
the state and deinstitutionalizing the
state mental health facility. By 2005
summer, with the launch of the
Resource Center, we have actively
started working on increasing
stakeholders in the sector by enabling
other organizations and individuals to
take on the role of the Banyan. We
have also started work on prevention
of homelessness through our
CommunityMental Health Project.
The essence of ourwork, however,
lies in the freedom and choice to a
better life that many of our clients
make. Our greatest joy lies in the fact
that many women who have
recovered at the Banyan are taking
steps towards reclaiming their
identities and are voicing their rights.
The December of 2005 saw
representatives of our resident
support group take on the campaign
for people with mental health issues and address the media with their
rights and issues. Events like these
keep The Banyan dream, of enabling
every person with mental illness on
the streets to take charge of life and
look towards a new dawn, alive.
Our Vision
The Banyan believes in the rights of
the completely marginalized sections
of society to live and to be.
Our vision is for a just society in
which the rights and needs of the
completely marginalized are
addressed without exception.
We will achieve this by acting as a
catalyst to increase awareness and
acceptance of the issues, creating the
momentum for Government and
society to develop appropriate
responses.
Our Mission
Integrated services for persons with
mental health issues.Options for their
Future.
We are The Banyan.
