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A TREE GROWS IN CHENNAI
How did one woman dashing into the traffic on Haddows Road Chennai in 1993, spark off the peoples movement that is today The Banyan?
She was obviously mentally ill, half-naked with matted hair. She was an eye-opener to India's nowhere people. The nobodies that no one wanted to acknowledge existed.
It started as a kneejerk response to a responsibility that no one was willing to take up. Quite truthfully neither were we.
We were too young, raw, inexperienced. We were used to pointing fingers at others whenever confronted with a problem. Here we could only point fingers at ourselves.
And so with heart overruling the head, The Banyan was born. Admittedly, we weren't the best or the most qualified option, but we were the only option!
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LATEST UPDATES
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The Banyan recognizes that the issue facing the sector is not merely introduction of innovations in mental health care, but is at a larger level the sensitization of society including the government to the victimization of people under the current system of institutional mental health care in India. The action of The Banyan cannot therefore be limited to implementation based partnerships but must transcend to a larger domain of getting the government and society to acknowledge the suffering and issues of people affected by mental illness, poverty and homelessness. Therefore, based on recent events at IMH and our experience of the last four years of the Dial 100 partnership, we are taking an aggressive stand that will use a combination of dialogue, agitation and legal action to initiate changes while continuing with welfare activities within IMH. As The Banyan realigns its strategy towards making the institutional mental health care in Tamil Nadu humane, responsive and effective, we look forward to the support and inputs of stakeholders in the development and mental health sector, our partners and donors in making this initiative a success.
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World Mental Health Day and 15th Anniversary Celebration at The Banyan
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To commemorate the World Mental health day and celebrate the 15th anniversary of The Banyan, The Banyan held two very important events.
The first event (Oct 4th) was the disability allowance meet with over 200 client families with their care givers totaling to over 400 persons and the second (Oct 5th) was a seminar /panel discussion on 'Media & Mental Health: shaping popular perceptions'.
For the disability allowance meet, the care givers of the 200 clients discussed the problems faced by them in caring for their relatives with mental illness & on ways to tackle the issues. Dr. Kishore, Senior Psychiatrist from NIMHANS & the senior coordinators from The Banyan moderated the full day session and addressed the issues while the Disability rehabilitation & the State Disability Officer, Govt of Tamil Nadu along with Dr. Anbudurai addressed the gathering at the end. It was very useful day with lots of insights & learnings for us and the sector of mental health.
Seminar /Panel discussion on 'Media & Mental Health: Shaping popular perceptions,' this discussion was between panelists comprising of well known film makers (Rajiv Menon & Vasanth), former Minister of Social Welfare, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, Dr. Poogothai, Senior Psychiatrists, Dr. Kishore (Nimhans) & Dr. Anbudurai (Hindu Mission Hospital & The Banyan), senior bureaucrat, Supriya Sahu (Project Director, Aids Control), entrepreneur, Mohan Menon and Vandana Gopikumar (founder trustee, the Banyan).
It was interesting to hear the views of the panelists and exchange of thoughts & ideas among the participants and the panel. The Banyan hopes this would be a start for a healthy public discussion about the way the mass media affects the perceptions about mental illness.
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| WHAT'S NEW AT THE BANYAN |
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We didn't need no background music to feel pumped up!
Launch of our dream projects by
Dr Kalam
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