Shop for a cause

All these products are made by patients in the department. 
Shop for a cause

BENGALURU: Make Deepavali shopping more meaningful this time by buying eco-friendly and hand-made decorations from the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services OPD counter at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, (NIMHANS), Hosur Road. They sell Deepavali kits, which include rangoli colours that have been made from discarded flowers, and hand-painted diyas and stencils for rangoli designs. All these products are made by patients in the department. 

“For three years we have been conducting craft-making workshops for people who are diagnosed with mental illness and developmental disorders. So we thought of starting some activities that can engage them as well as give them financial assistance,” said DR Deepak Jayarajan, associate professor, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services. He further mentioned that they have previously sold Holi colours under this project. 

The team decided to include more activities for the patients, who are a group of 25 members aged 18 and above, so that they can be engaged through out the year and earn money out of it too. “It was Dr T Sivakumar, another faculty in the department, who led the initiative. The patients have been working on Deepavali kits for last two months. We are associated with NGO called Craftizens for marketing these products. If people are shopping for Deepavali, it’s good that they prefer these products which will help the patients also. It will be an encouragement for them,” Jayarajan told CE. 

One Deepavali kit costs `300. Regarding the response from the customers, the professor said, “The team started selling the products three weeks ago. We made a profit of  `30,000 last year and `1 lakh this year during Holi. This time we are expecting more profit.”

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