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Developing
a Resource and Training Center and a Psychotherapy Program
for women in Pune city
A
3 year Project (October 2005- September 2008)
Supported
by:
Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mumbai
We
are highly appreciative of this continuing grant, given by
the SDTT, to further our activities in mental health. This
institutional grant is the core grant, giving support to our
Center for Advocacy in Mental Health
and the Seher program. An earlier
grant had helped us to develop the framework and activities
of these two programs.
 Library
and documentation center
We
are very proud of our library,
documentation center and archive, which is now being fully
supported by the SDTT grant. The strategies planned for the
coming years, which is being supported by the grant are:
Enhancing resourcefulness: Enhance
the resource center and documentation through expanding our
collection of books, reports, journals, and audio-visuals.
We would also like to expand our small collection of films
and videos.
More effective service provision: Computerized
resource center and use of recent data processing software.
Enhancing community out-reach and dissemination:
As the resource center is an interactive community interphase,
this area will be developed more fully in the coming years.
Display of books and records at the center is often done during
our training programs and workshops, as well as in other forums.
The center also serves as a conduit for display and sale of
our publications. It runs its own newsletter, called Abhivyakti.
Supporting research by knowledge management:
The resource center is the hub of all of our Center’s research
activities. The library will interact more intensively with
the research teams and develop areas of present research interest.
Recently, areas relating to traditional healing and ethics
in the mental health sector have been developed, contingent
upon the present research needs of the Center.
Supporting trainings by knowledge delivery:
Our training activities are dependent upon the materials already
available at our resource center.
Planned
activities
We
will add news books, reports and documentation to our existing
collection, focusing especially on audio visuals. We will
bring out compilations describing our holdings, as well as
some publications. Abhivyakti will be brought out regularly
and advocacy issues will be regularly featured in this newsletter.
We will utilize opportunities to display our books and materials
in workshops and meetings. We will strive to improve membership
by wide dissemination about our library services.
Other
activities of CAMH supported by the grant
CAMH
runs an “Alternative
Mental Health” program under which it brings together
resource persons, professionals and practitioners as well
as communities, families, and users, in order to share information
and build capacity on the process of “healing and recovery”
from a psychosocial disability. We will continue to do awareness
activities of AMH and also mainstream AMH work in all our
service activities. The Seher program already utilizes the
AMH resources as points of advocacy and referral.
Archive
The
Oral Histories Archive at the Center is a rich collection
of people’s stories, testimonies, photographs, audio-visuals,
personal narratives, letters, poems, stories, case papers
and other materials or artefacts about emotional well-being
and ill health. The Archive stands as evidence of people’s
profound experiences with the mental health service delivery
system in India. In the Archive, at present, we have a small,
but growing collection of individual stories, community stories,
a collection of user newsletters, legal case papers, and other
personal documentation.
We will, in these coming years, share this invaluable collection
with the community through our library and documentation center.
We will also regularly publish documents, reports and try
to bring them out in the form of publications, documentaries
and as tools of awareness building in various forums of dissemination.
Training
Programs
The
SDTT grant will help us run the following training programs:
1. Gender and Mental Health:
A residential training program (2006-2008)
2. Advocacy issues in Mental Health (A new program to be developed)
We would also like to give shape to a certified Mental Health
Counselling Program, spanning over an 8 month period. There
is a need for such a program in Pune city, as there is very
poor capacity.
Seher,
a psychotherapy program of Bapu Trust
The
SDTT grant will help to continue with Seher work:
1. Center based casework – psychotherapy: Individual
case work with women, and their families, is the ongoing core
activity of Seher.
2. Community based casework: Community
trainings with CBOs on contract / consultation basis, along
with, capacity building of CHWs in counseling and intervention
is an ongoing core activity of Bapu / Seher. Bapu / Seher
also provides community-based case-work, by collaborating
with the local agency.
3. Materials production: Seher will
bring out a comprehensive community training manual for CHWs,
as such a manual is not available.
4. Monitoring: In order to keep
the staff on the cutting edge of knowledge, maintain professionalism
as well as to sustain the quality of care in case work, Seher
works will conduct regular peer reviews, case conferences
and working under supervision, other than utilize opportunities
for professional development.
5. Self-help activities: Seher will
facilitate user led self help groups in its future work, once
homogenous groups of people with similar needs are identified.
6. Research activities: Seher will
conduct two research studies, one on “mental health service
provision in Pune city”, looking particularly at private practice.
Secondly, Seher will conduct intervention research on its
own data-base of clientele.
7. Consultations: Seher has a multi-disciplinary
consultative team as a part of its integrated mental health
approach. Nutritional aspects, reproductive / hormonal, general
health and psychiatric care are covered in the integrated
approach. Alternative Mental Health (use of meditation, yoga,
drum circles, hypnotherapy, acupressure, creative writing
and other healing approaches) are promoted for interested
users (through awareness programs, consultations, referrals
and self help).
8. Seher will utilize the support for its regular
publicity activities.
Project
Team:
 Aparna
Joshi
Aparna
Waikar
Bhargavi
Davar
Chandra
Kharadkar
Darshana
Bansode
Deepak
Salunke
Deepra
Dandekar
Ketki
Ranade
Sachin
Shinde
Yogita
Kulkarni
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