[1] The Banyan's NALAM programme offers well-being oriented outpatient clinics and community based mental health care in both urban and rural areas.
BALM uses capacity building, education programmes (diploma, masters’, and PhD programmes) in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, research, collaborative work (with civil society organisations, local governments, disability movements, mental health user-caregiver groups, and Central and State Government) and construction of think tanks, as strategies to influence progressive policies and plans.
He leads a team of 10 mental health professionals that run our Kerala Chapter, currently housing 22 residents through the Home Again programme.
The project entails the facilitation of exit pathways out of institutionalised care for persons who have been incarcerated within mental health facilities for extended periods of time.
The Government of Tamil Nadu - National Health Mission plans to set up multiple new emergency care and recovery centres for individuals with mental illness, both those who are homeless and those who are not.
The Banyan will act as capacity building partners on this project, and will also share the protocols and values of their emergency care and recovery services, so that they will be replicated in these new centres.
The Banyan's NALAM programme is a well-being oriented, community based mental health care programme driven by grassroots workers who offer multi-tiered, multi-interventional packages of mental health care, that range from tracking progress on symptom reduction and securing economic stability, to pursuing personal aspirations.
The NALAM community mobilisers also engage in innovative mental health awareness programmes across local NGOs, youth groups, PHCs and MGNREGs sites.
The rural clinics are located in Kanchipuram districts across these locations: This approach will soon be replicated in collaboration with The Government of Tamil Nadu as a means to strengthen the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) For individuals who require long-term care, The Banyan offers supportive care inclusive living long term options.
The clustered group home is co-located with the BALM-TISS, a college that offers capacity building masters’, PhD and diploma programs in mental health.
This programme is currently active in Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Kovalam & Trichy), Kerala (Mallapuram), and has been implemented in Assam through a partner organisation, Ashadeep.
[2] At The Banyan, vocational training and work placement is offered across three verticals - arts & crafts (wire and jute products, carpentry, tailoring etc.
The Banyan is engaged with three State Governments (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra) towards revitalizing the paradigm of institutional mental health care.