Mumbai
provides us a prototypical example of the urban mental health
scenario. Fast paced city life, clash of cultures, overcrowding,
poor living conditions, rising crime and violence, and diminishing
support systems are among the numerous factors that distress
the people in Mumbai. As a result the need for mental health
services is rather high
In
Mumbai, mental health service delivery is primarily through
the public sector and the private sector. Organized government
sector in Mumbai consists of 12 municipal and government hospitals
providing medical psychiatric services in Mumbai.
The
private sector (consisting of practicing psychiatrists, charitable
trusts and private hospitals) serves 3 times more the patients
seen in the organized public medical sector.
Though
there are services, they are too few and far between. Hence,
they cater to a limited population, leaving out many who live
in the suburbs. Even if the gaps are partially fulfilled by
private services, access, affordability and range of psychosocial
services seems to be still beyond reach for most people in
Mumbai. In addition to that services are plagued by an overmedicalised
bias.
The
above data stands as testimony to our belief that mental health
is a neglected issue in the health policies and programmes
in Maharastra. The lack of integration of mental health persepective
into public and private programmes designed for people, reflects
an invisibilisation of the mental health needs of people in
this city. Our awareness of this silence on mental health issues
propelled us to set up a mental health project in Mumbai to
carry out advocacy and service related activities. The Mumbai
office was started in the month of December, 2005.
Ongoing
activities in Mumbai:
•
‘Seher’ - the psychotherapy programme of Bapu Trust, provides
psychological services to clients in Thane and neighbouring areas.
• Psychological
interventions in the Family Court of Mumbai, on the invitation
of the Family Court. Our center was inaugurated in January,
2006. Our objectives through this intervention are to address
the mental health concerns of litigants of the Family Court
in Mumbai. We also conduct capacity building workshops for
the marriage counselors, and professionals at the family court,
to help them to integrate a sensitive mental health perspective
into their work.
• The
Mumbai office coordinates the Mumbai Chapter of the Jan Manasik
Arogya Abhiyaan, a rights based movement initiated by Bapu
Trust to advocate for the rights of people with psychosocial
disabilities, by networking with users, carers, families, professionals
and NGOs that have a stake in the mental health sector.
• Documentation
and creation community-friendly mental health material.
Besides
this, the Mumbai office looks forward to interacting with all
stakeholders of the mental health sector in Mumbai.
Contact:
Senior
Program Co-ordinator: Ms. Aparna Joshi (Cl Psych)
Program Associate: Ms. Gitika Talwar
10, 3rd Floor, Shubha Akshaya (Mayur)
Bhaskar Colony, Next to Times of India Bldg,
Thane West. Maharashtra
Phone: 022 – 25443384
