The Banyan
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Mission Statement
Enabling access to health and mental health care for persons living in poverty and homelessness through comprehensive and creative clinical and social care approaches embedded in a well being paradigm. The needs of those who live in the margins are our collective responsibility.
About This Cause
The Banyan established in 1993, operates with the realisation that all people can reach mental, physical, interpersonal, social recovery when assisted with the required person-based resource investments. We have placed efforts to restore neighbourhood care capital through emergency and community-based mental health interventions aiding people on their paths towards emotional and physical well-being that invariably positions users to choose viable life goals. We are striving to establish and steadily promote best practices through our ongoing collaborations with governmental and non-profit initiatives. We endeavour to address community wellness by: - Establishing ethical access to emergency mental health services - Delivering direct services to the people in various rural and urban settings - Strengthening distinct cooperation targeting community issues impacted by mental health - Sustaining a consciously committed team of professionals - Ensuring safe and affordable housing as a basic need in facilitating optimal mental health and well being - Securing social care for children, young adults and adults by providing personal care and other practical assistance as per requirement along with access to social entitlements Longitudinally we have been able to compellingly impact the lives of over 2000 service users with homelessness antecedents across states through our service bases across seven districts and three states (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra). 75% of women who have used the services have recovered and journeyed back to their homes and families of origin. 60% of reintegrated women in the last five years remain in continued care to assist them in sustaining their recovery and prevent a lapse back into homelessness. Our approaches utilise user-centric and directed treatments, anchored via holistic care frameworks. These include: The Banyan's Continuum of Care: A. Emergency Care and Recovery Center (ECRC) and The Shelter: The ECRC in Mogappair has been accessed by over 3,000 homeless people with mental health issues, of whom over three-quarters have satisfactorily transitioned back to their families throughout India. Here people access emergency and critical care services and are provided food, shelter and clothing alongside health, reintegration and aftercare services. The Shelter we run in partnership with The Corporation of Chennai operates similarly for homeless men with mental illness. Post recovery, collective efforts to reintegrate users based on choice and provide needed long term aftercare services to maintain health and wellbeing is offered with the cooperation of carers and families creating pathways for social rehabilitation. B. NALAM - Community Mental Health Care: NALAM initiative (well-being in Tamil) is delivered through grassroots mobilizers. They identify psychological distress, offering referrals, counselling, clinical care, home visits, home-based care and social entitlements such as citizenship documents, loans, pensions, employment, etc. NALAM clinics spread across urban and rural locations also offer skills development and livelihood initiatives apart from the above mentioned psychological and social interventions for a range of age-groups. In Tamil Nadu, these are offered across 15 service access points in Chennai and Thiruporur districts, reaching out to a population of approximately 7 lakhs. Till date, more than 10,000 individuals have accessed these services with a current active registry of over 2000 individuals. In Thiruporur, Kattumannarkoil and Sriperumbudur Taluks of Tamil Nadu these are administered in partnership with National Health Mission. B. Home Again: Home Again offers over 200 individuals with mental illness with sustainable long-stay care needs across a cross-section of low to high disability levels who live in homes as members of families formed in simple rural and urban neighbourhoods with residential daily assistance and case management. Apart from Tamil Nadu where this intervention was first piloted, the model has also been replicated in partnership with the Governments of Kerala and Maharashtra aimed at reducing the incarcerated count at state mental hospitals and the needs of those who continue to remain in psychiatric facilities for over a year or more.