HYDERABAD: Mental health care activists and members of non-government organisations (NGOs) say that in order to enhance integration of people (cleared for discharge from mental health institutes) into society, rehabilitation services should be individual-centric and support systems should be improved.
Dr Vandana Gopikumar, co-founder of The Banyan, a Chennai-based NGO working with homeless persons with mental health issues, says that apart from mapping skills of the person, access to all systems that the person interacts with has to be enhanced.
“Their access to support networks — including the whole gamut of family, health and social system — has to be improved. Besides, they should be facilitated with disability allowance and employment to earn livelihood.”
“All of this enhances their participation in social and cultural life,” says Vandana who is also a professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
According to Ratnaboli Ray, founder of Anjali-Mental Health Rights Organisation in Kolkata, apart from rehabilitation, their social inclusion, which has many dimensions such as checking whether they have an address and citizenship, needs to be looked into. “How they can be established as rightful citizens has also to be looked into,” Ratnaboli Ray says.
‘Reintegration a difficult task’
Officials and staff at hospital say that the reintegration of patients with their families becomes difficult as their kin is not ready willing to take them back or inmates don’t disclose correct address of their homes and thus continue to languish at the IMH