UDAYAN - Rehabilitation Home for homeless Men with mental illness

Homeless persons with mental illness wandering on the streets are present across most rural and urban areas of India. Unfortunately welfare measures for this population are very limited in most parts of the country including Assam. 

All patients suffering from severe and persistent mental illness require rehabilitation. The goal of psychiatric rehabilitation is to help disabled individuals to develop the emotional, social and intellectual skills needed to live, learn and work in the community with the least amount of professional support. The strategic intervention for psychiatric rehabilitation aims at developing the patient's skills in interacting with their immediate environment. This task becomes very challenging when the person is homeless as information such as history of past / present illness & treatment, family history of mental illness, psychosocial stressors of the illness, the socio-cultural parameters that surround the illness, components of personal and developmental history that can be critical indicators for the manifestation and maintenance of the illness etc. which are essential factors for initiating treatment is not accessible.

Professional approach to address these issues of homeless persons with mental illness and rehabilitate such persons with attainment of social inclusion is the core issue.  

Homeless men with mental illness are admitted to Udayan Rehabilitation home. They are provided with care, treatment and psycho social interventions planned and guided by a multidisciplinary team comprising of professionals such as psychiatrist, general physician, clinical psychologist, psychologist, social workers, psychiatric nurse, para medics as health care staff and other support staff. Scientific therapy tools are administered at different levels of the rehabilitation process to determine the mental status, disability status and functional level, and intervention plans are made for each individual based on the findings. Group and individual counselling sessions are conducted on a routine basis to know details of their home address and family background. As the symptoms are controlled and they attain a basic functionality level with vocational skill-based training, the residents are discharged and reintegrated with their family / community. Continuation of treatment is ensured either at local level or through Ashadeep’s free psychiatric outdoor clinic.

The program aims at prepare the beneficiaries in such a manner that they enjoy social inclusion with no discrimination when they go back home after recovery and be with their families with continued treatment so that they do not land up on the streets again.

> Since the beginning of this programme in 2013, 262 men have been admitted at Udayan and out of this, 234 have been discharged / reintegrated with their families.

> Awareness amongst communities has been created on mental illness for reducing stigma in the places wherever a beneficiary is taken for reintegration. 

> Ashadeep’s intervention towards the homeless persons with mental illness had led the government of Assam to initiated rehabilitation activities towards homeless persons with mental illness in each district of Assam by involving the departments of Social Welfare, Police, Health and Designated NGOs. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been formulated and notified by the Government in this regard.

> The Other shelter homes run by government and private agencies have become fully aware of the mental health issues of their inmates and regularly seeking psychiatric interventions through Ashadeep’s OPD. Occasionally their inmates are admitted at Navachetana homes for acute interventions and on recovery they go back to the respective shelter homes again.

> Involvement of Police in the rescue and admission process is very encouraging.