West Bengal-Based Organisation Works Towards Integrating Mental Health In Indias Public Health Paradigm

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West Bengal-Based Organisation Works Towards Integrating Mental Health In India's Public Health Paradigm

The 'Anjali' Mental Health Rights Organisation was founded by Ratnaboli Ray, to bridge the gender disparity when it comes to women in mental health institutions as next to no attention is paid to their conditions in institutions across the country.

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India has come a long way in mitigating mental health problems. As years go by, our society is becoming open towards taking the conversation forward when it comes to struggling with issues like anxiety, depression and many others. Along with this, several initiatives have come to the fore that works in the mental well-being ambit.

While there is significant progress, bridging the class and gender gap is the pressing need of the hour. Many people in the lower rungs of society are left out of getting mental health treatment due to its stigma. According to a report by The New Indian Express in 2020, depression and anxiety are twice as common in women as over 25% suffer from it. Also, they cannot seek help for it as there is a lack of support and misconceptions about visiting a therapist in our society.

The situation is worse in mental health institutions in India. A report by Human Rights Watch in 2014 states that women in such institutions are easy targets of human rights violations and harassment. As they are 'treated worse than animals, many of them are forcibly institutionalized by their family members in a bid to get 'rid' of them in a timely fashion.

With the advent of COVID-19, the problem has become worse. With more people understanding mental health, more work needs to be done to sensitize the public. In light of this, many organizations and groups are helping the Indian healthcare system become more capable and inclusive to handle such crises. One such example is the Anjali Mental Health Rights Organisation.

Mitigating A Major Problem

The organization was founded in 2000 by a trained clinical psychologist named Ratnaboli Ray. It was named after a mental health activist herself; Ray witnessed her family members who suffered from mental illnesses. Apart from familial stigma and ignorance, the government mental health hospitals were in a dilapidated condition with no proper methods at disposal to deal with patients. From seclusion cells to abysmal food quality and constant physical abuse, the institutions worsened the patients' mental health.

Speaking to The Logical Indian, the organization's Senior Operations Officer named Debatri Das, explains, "Ratnaboli Ray's primary drive came from her personal connect with mental illness. With her prior experience working in the development sector, she felt the need to engage with the State to change human cells in the government mental hospitals into spaces of care and compassion for the people undergoing treatment there."

For Ray, it was not an easy road ahead. She faced rejection for the first three months after presenting the Human Rights Commissioner with her idea. Along with that, the meagre amount of resources became a mammoth hurdle. "The initial challenges faced were limited resources and lack of awareness that was noticed among people about mental illness. The other challenge was to bring about a change in the deplorable State within the hospital – right from doing away with the seclusion cells, tonsuring of women, physical abuse, overdosing residents with medication to poor food quality, inadequate health care services, unhygienic condition of the wards and demeaning attitude of the hospital staff," adds Das.

'Anjali' had its work cut out for them. With thorough research, they found that in 2018, West Bengal had only 2000 beds in state mental health hospitals for over 1.25 crore patients with mental health illnesses. Therefore, working with the state government was imperative for Ray's initiative to flourish and make a difference.

Inclusivity And Livelihood Opportunities

Before proceeding further, the organization spoke to the patients and heard their stories. "The initial efforts of rapport building with the female residents comprised of informal chats with them, listening to their stories, engaging them in drawing and crafts. As these women got a chance to open up their life stories, , Ratnaboli got a chance to not only talk to them about their identities as a person rather than patient but also to have an understanding of the situation within the hospital," Debatri Das explains.

With growing comfort levels, more women joined in narrating their stories. Despite initial apprehensions, the staff and doctors also came on board to support Ray's endeavour to raise awareness about the patients' fundamental rights and humanize them in the process. Das adds, "We are working to secure large-scale systemic changes in the mental health field by making such institutions and communities intersectional and inclusive. We aim to achieve this through ongoing advocacy for human rights and policy development through cross-sectoral partnerships with the Government of West Bengal, the media and other civil society organizations."

Along with this, 'Anjali' came up with livelihood opportunities to give the patients economic and social freedom. Known as 'Voices', it is a program that runs in West Bengal's four mental hospitals, namely Pavlov Mental Hospital and Lumbini Park Mental Hospital in Kolkata, Berhampore Mental Hospital, and Institute of Mental Care in Purulia.

"This is a programme aimed at achieving social inclusion for persons with psychosocial disability, to render them as full citizens of this country, with their full, informed participation in their lives. This is assured through sessions in arts and craft, capacity-building and livelihoods projects that take them closer to economic and social independence," Das continues her conversation with The Logical Indian. Some of the projects include 'Cha Ghar' in Pavlov Hospital's premises where the patients ran a canteen. Also, a laundry service called 'Dhobi Ghar' started in 2016 along with a block printing unit and a bakery, giving the patients a lucrative opportunity.

Raising Awareness On Grassroot Levels

A significant part of Anjali's work is creating awareness about mental health in rural areas. The community initiative is called 'Janamanas' and is held in collaboration with the local municipalities. "The programme trains self-help group women to understand mental health and its intersecting issues such as poverty, gender and sexuality, alcoholism, domestic violence, etc., and to become lay professionals in their communities. Janamanas also does extensive awareness campaigns, with a focus on creating safer communities for women," Debatri Das said.

Their work continued during COVID-19 as well. Das talks about Anjali's work during the pandemic, "With operations stalled within the hospital temporarily because of nation-wise lockdown, we provided tele-psychosocial support to the residents in the hospital, as well as those who had been reintegrated. We provided personal protection items to the 4 hospitals and the staff, donated medical equipment like oxygen cylinders, concentrators, oxymeters, PPE kits, provided seed money to reintegrated persons who lost their jobs and could start small livelihood initiatives, ran a community kitchen, and also provided dry ration support and financial support to the people."

A Paradigm Shift

Twenty years down the line, Anjali works tirelessly towards giving mental health much-deserved importance in the Indian healthcare system. Das proudly states, "More than 1300 recovered residents of government mental hospitals have been reintegrated with their families. In partnership with Municipalities, about 400 women have been trained in the Janamanas curriculum on mental health. To date, more than 450 clients have been referred to various places for employment opportunities." Along with this, many of them have been employed as clerks, tailors, school assistants, domestic helpers, etc. and securing the patients the fundamental voting rights.

However, their work is not over. Anjali wants to continue working with the state government's support and uplift the rights of patients with psychosocial disabilities. "While Anjali's sincere efforts and hard work have borne fruits, it realizes the need to work on its growth strategy. Along with being a service provider, the horizon of work can gradually be expanded by scaling up public-private partnerships towards being a resource organization to support government and non-government agencies to transform mental health institutions across the country," Das concludes her conversation.

With their endeavours, Ratnaboli Ray and the team at 'Anjali' wants to sensitize the public towards people with mental illnesses. Their efforts are already successful in doing so, that is a shining ray of hope for the country.

Also Read: This 26-Yr-Old's Digital Paathshaala Is Helping Elderly Become Tech-Savvy Amid COVID-19 Pandemic


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