SAVERA

Statistics show that about 53% of children in India face some kind of sexual abuse in childhood. A child is raped every 2.5 hours in India. And an estimated one million children are trafficked each year. The traumatic experience of severe abuse and exploitation can lead to multiple follow-on adversities including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, social isolation, addiction, self-harm, and suicide. If not treated, these mental health problems prevent survivors from reintegrating into society to lead whole, healthy lives. Child care institutions in India are in desperate need of intervention with several cases of sexual abuse within some homes and an estimated 2 lakh children “missing” in the system. Adequate training to the caregivers and a lack of counselors in these homes forces a cycle of neglect and those living there remain trapped in trauma. With less than 1 psychologist for every 1 million people, these vulnerable children have no access to the right kind of trauma informed care they so desperately need. Evidence shows that the right kind of intervention can completely change the trajectory of a survivor but with none available, the cycle continues and a life of abuse and injustice perpetuates.

We are working to establish an evidence-based, effective and scalable approach to holistic, trauma-informed care for child survivors of extreme violence. We are working with the world’s best minds to provide an innovative model of care by empowering lay caregivers - supported by innovative technologies - to provide quality care at scale. We train caregivers and front line staff to provide culturally relevant, practical and lasting mental health interventions that build the

skills and the socio-emotional foundations to support overall wellness. We are working to build a network of partners to provide vulnerable children with a variety of educational and vocational opportunities to inspire, build skills and, ultimately, financial independence. With this work, we seek transformation for both the individual child and

the broader system of child care institutions throughout the country. With modules like health promotion, problem-solving, emotional regulation and trauma-informed caregiving, children begin to see hope and see the possibility of a different future.

We have tested several options with the best minds in the field of mental health care and finally realized that the only sustainable and effective method would need to be scalable across India. The only way we believe we can be scalable is by utilizing lay counselors in our intervention, a method that has been proven highly successful by our partners, Sangath. Sangath also completed a similar module based intervention across 74 municipal schools in Bihar using lay counselors where they found rates of bullying, gender violence, and suicide came down drastically. With a baseline assessment conducted prior to our intervention, a midline assessment conducted during our intervention and a final analysis at the end of 9 months, we are able to provide the first evidence-based, scalable trauma-informed care to girls living in child care institutions across the country.