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Mental health issues are a `dark area of Indian policy'

Special Correspondent

Banyan residents recall success stories of overcoming mental illness "When the recovered are gainfully occupied do they realise their self worth"

Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

IMPRESSIVE GATHERING: Film director Maniratnam, former Miss Afghanisthan Vida Samadzai, U.S. Consul General David T. Hopper , actor Vivek Oberoi, ICICI Deputy director Nachiket Mor and Additional Advocate General Bharatram listening to a Banyan resident at the inauguration of The Banyan Centre in Chennai.

CHENNAI: A few residents of The Banyan, a non-governmental organisation working with mentally ill destitute women, on Wednesday spoke about their experience of conquering their illness, at the inauguration of the Banyan Centre here.

"Anyone can become mentally ill," said Jessi Janaki, a primary school teacher, who has been under treatment for about nine years. "Just like me, everyone can fight it and have a better life," she added

Anuradha, another recovered resident who worked in the vocational training centre, said that she now had a bank account and the centre got enough orders to manage on its own.

Vocational training unit

These and several other success stories were recounted at The Banyan Centre here which houses a vocational training unit, a growth laboratory, a working women's hostel, outpatient services, legal aid services, a networking cell and an awareness and advocacy cell.

Speaking at the inauguration, United States Consul General in South India, David T. Hopper, said that the United States government and non-governmental organisations contributed in a variety of ways to many causes that required urgent attention. The Indian-American community in the U.S. was growing and they too were helping out. "They are to be saluted for their generosity," he said.

Nachiket Mor, Deputy Director, ICICI, said The Banyan had two specific challenges: to raise the finances for catering to immediate needs such as medicine for residents and setting up an institute for training social change leaders who would tackle social problems, including providing care for the huge numbers of mentally ill in the country.

N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu , said the real challenge for an organisation such as the Banyan was scaling up and extension of its operations.

"The next stage will be the most difficult and challenging," he pointed out and described mental health issues as a "dark area of Indian policy."

Vida Samadzai, former Miss Afghanistan, said that the world required to be aware of the facts of mental illness and everyone should do their bit to remove the stigma associated with it.

Bharatram, Banyan Trustee and Additional Advocate-General, narrating a story of a young girl throwing back shells into the sea, said that though the problem was huge, one could make a difference with small groups of people.

`Several notches above'

Film director Maniratnam said that every time he came to The Banyan, he was humbled by what he saw. Now, the organisation was being taken "several notches above."

Actor Revathi talked about the growth of the organisation and said that people came to expect much more from The Banyan.

Actor Vivek Oberoi said that the organisation set daunting targets for itself each year and achieved these. Madhuri Menon, Trustee, said that for her, the past 10 years had been learning and growing experience. The organisation's greatest strength was the people who worked with the mentally ill residents.

Lakshmi Ravikanth, Trustee, said that only when the recovered were gainfully occupied did they realise their self worth.

The Banyan's growth lab was an initiative towards that end.

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