Sponsor therapy and medication for patients suffering from mental illness

Impact

Sangita was about 45 years old when the police found her at Khanapara in Guwahati. **She was mentally unstable and didn't know where her home was. So, the police admitted her in Navachetana Transit Care home.** Navachetana then enrolled her into the rehabilitation program. In the beginning, she was very aggressive and used abusive language. She also had a delusion of grandiosity. **She was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and the consultant psychiatrist initiated psychiatric treatment.** She received food and shelter in Navachetana Transit Care home. **In the initial days of her treatment, she was suspicious about everything around her. She did not cooperate with the treatment and even refused to take her medication.** With time, the resident health care staff managed to win her trust. Her symptoms were controlled with proper medication. She also received psycho-social interventions and counselling sessions. During the counselling sessions, Sangita regained consciousness of her past. She revealed that she is a graduate in chemistry and was teaching in a private school in Guwahati. She remembered that her elder brother had separated from the family. Her parents had expired soon after this incident. **Sangita became functional with regular therapy, medication, and care in a few months. Ashadeep's re-integration team took her to her brother's home, as she had no other place to go. Her brother refused to take her back and so, she returned to the Rehabilitation Home.** Sangita now lives in a home under the 'Home Again, shared housing' program. This is the final stage of the rehabilitation intervention. Here, she lives with four other co-residents and a health worker as a family. **She, now lives independently and takes her own decisions. Sangita works as a computer instructor in the day Rehabilitation Center. She also earns a monthly income for her job. ** Without Ashadeep's help, Sangita would have been on the roads with no help for her condition. A little help from donors enabled Ashadeep to give Sangita the right treatment. **You can also help poor patients with mental health conditions get access to therapy. You can donate so that organizations like Ashadeep can bring help to patients who deserve it. You can give with confidence because every program listed is [GIVEASSURED](https://www.giveindia.org/giveassured).**

About The Program

The Navachetana home run by Ashadeep rescues women with mental health issues. The home provides them with shelter, food, and medical care. They also assist in their reintegration with their families wherever possible. Donations to this program will contribute to a fund that will cover the cost of the physician, psychiatrist and cost of medicines to the patients. Navachetana was started as an attempt to rehabilitate the mentally affected homeless women living on the streets of Guwahati. 355 women have been rescued and rehabilitated by Ashadeep till now. Homeless women from the street with mental illness are admitted either by AshadeepaEUR(tm)s team and volunteers, or directly by the police, or are referred by the State Home for Women or other shelter homes and/ or organizations. They are given medical treatment as well as therapy. The Rehabilitation process involves assessment at each stage: Assessment of the clinical condition of the patients One to one counselling for identifying home and background. Assessment of living skills Assessment of vocational skills for livelihood Training in occupational activity such as household work, kitchen, gardening, needlework, knitting, jute work, music & dance, and other therapeutic activities. Treatment is provided wherever required. Patients usually spend about 6 months at our home during the rehabilitation program. If the family of the patient is traced, the home initiates reintegration. The patient is discharged only when they achieve a minimum living skills criteria. If the family does not come to Navachetana to pick up the residents, then the staff accompanies the resident to her house to reunite them. The team maintains communication with the family through the phone. They obtain authenticity through photographs of family members. Once reunited with family, the case is closed at the police station where the original entry was made. If a woman does not have a family or her home cannot be traced, but she becomes functional, then she is re-integrated into Homes run either by the government or Civil Society Organizations. In some cases, where the disability due to the illness is very severe and information regarding the woman's whereabouts cannot be traced at all, she remains with Ashadeep. When you donate to this program, you help women suffering from mental illness get access to therapy and medicines that they require for their recovery.

About The NGO

Ashadeep mission is to initiate and strengthen interventions for persons with mental disorders and their families in the North Eastern states of India, in an attempt to achieve a life of better quality for them. Anjana and Mukul Goswami, with like minded people, formed Ashadeep in 1996 to take care of people with mental disorders as the rehabilitation facilities. There were no mental health rehabilitation facilities available in Assam and the North East during that time. People had to go to Kolkata or Bangalore, which was not affordable for all. Founder Mukul Chandra Goswami had a traumatic but positive experience of taking care of and rehabilitating his sister suffering from Schizophrenia. Mukul Goswami, a banker till 2001, along with his wife Anjana, a lecturer, formed Ashadeep in 1996. Over 360 individuals suffering from mental illness and intellectual disability have received therapy, special and conventional education, training in sports and vocational activities in Ashadeep Day Rehabilitation Centre since 1996. 650 homeless mentally ill persons have been housed and treated in rehabilitation homes, of which 550 have been successfully reintegrated with their families. 1200 individuals in Guwahati and over 2000 in rural areas of Assam have been intervened upon issues related to mental health through their Outdoor Psychiatric Clinic and Outreach Camps. Over 120 training and orientation programmes on mental health have been organized for school and college students, ASHAs, ANMs, Anganwadi workers, policemen, etc. Since 2013, a Community Mental Health Programme has been initiated in 3 different blocks of Assam helping 1500 patients with Severe Mental Disorders.

All foreign currency subscriptions acquired before 6th December 2023 for this campaign will continue to go directly to Give Foundation Inc. until cancelled by the donor or Give, owing to the mandates applicable at the time of subscription. The donations will be further sent to the FCRA account of the Indian nonprofit or the US chapter as agreed to be used for the same cause as the Indian nonprofit. Eligible donors will receive tax exemption from Give Foundation Inc. 

With respect to any new foreign subscriptions, collection and disbursement shall be as per the platform Terms and Conditions.