BENGALURU: When you are on Hosur Road, near Bangalore Milk Dairy and hungry for quick bite, head to the ROSes Cafe (Recovery Oriented Services Cafe) at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS). By choosing to dine at this eatery, you can not only relish scrumptious snacks and drinks, but can also support recovering patients at the hospital. The cafe is run by the patients, who are recovering from mental illness.
Dr Sailaxmi Gandhi, additional professor and HOD, Department of Nursing, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, NIMHANS, said, “Around 10-12 recovering patients are working at the cafe. Each of them has been given specific tasks depending on their competencies and the staffers will be working on a rotation basis.”
The cafe’s human resource has been divided into three categories – accounting, cooking and assisting – and staffers are given tasks according to their competencies. The doctor said the main objective is to build confidence in patients and to show their family members that they are capable of doing Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). “Managing the cafe is one part of IADL. Patients need to apply critical thinking, decision-making skills and memory to take orders, and manage accounts at the cafe. Sometimes, these skills are lost either because of the chronic nature of the illness, stressful family environment or lack of motivation. That is why, we have included two-three family members of these patients in the human resource. In total, 15 are working at the cafe right now,” Gandhi added.
ROSes Cafe focuses on serving healthy snacks like Palak Dosa, Poha, Sprouts, Vegetable Cutlets with less oil, Fruit Salad. Whatever profit is earned from the cafe will be divided among the patients on every Saturday. “We are trying to make these patients self-sustained. A 23-year-old girl, who was with us since the beginning of this initiative, was not able to make eye contact. Now, she cuts vegetables, cleans tables and has started mingling with people,” said Suraiya, care taker, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services.