Abstract
Mental Health Action Trust (MHAT) is a volunteer-led, community mental health programme, which provides free bio-psychosocial mental healthcare to the most vulnerable among the poor and wandering persons with mental illness in partnership with Institute of Palliative Medicine (IPM), Kozhikode through a network of palliative care clinics in some northern districts of Kerala. The programme was initiated in response to a demand from community members. The community-based clinics provide free medical treatment, supply of food grains, financial support for education of children, provision of transport facilities for clients, livelihood activities, financial support, counselling and linking clients with social organisations and government departments. The community programmes are entirely funded by local community members through school children, door-to-door campaigns, shop owners, etc. as that is sustainable in the long run.
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Notes
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Kudumbashree, which is registered as the ‘State Poverty Eradication Mission’ (SPEM) was piloted in Alappuzha district and Malappuram district in 1993 and 1994, respectively, before being replicated throughout the state in 1998. The programme has a three-tier structure in which women from 15 to 40 families are organised into Neighbourhood Groups (NHG), representatives from all NHGs in a ward form Area Development Societies (ADS), which is federated into the apex body at the local self government level, Community Development Society (CDS). Resource poor women are represented in Grama Sabhas through Kudumbashree and they are able to highlight the issues affecting the poor. CDS works with the government in undertaking socio-economic surveys, social audit, enterprise development etc. The principal objectives are (i) facilitating self-identification of poor families through a transparent risk index comprising socially accepted indicators of poverty through participation surveys, (ii) empowering the women of the poor strata to improve their individual and collective capabilities by organising themselves into neighbourhood groups, (iii) encouraging thrift and investment through credit by developing community development societies to work as informal banks of the poor, (iv) improving incomes of the poor through upgradation of vocational and managerial skills and creation of opportunities for self employment and wage employment, (v) ensuring access to better health and nutrition for all poor families, (vi) ensuring access to basic amenities like safe drinking water, sanitary latrines, improved shelter and healthy living environment, and (vii) promoting functional literacy among the poor and supporting continuing education (Pat 2005: 4989).
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Balagopal, G., Kapanee, A.R.M. (2019). Altruism and Activating Neighbourhood Care for Persons with Mental Illness in the Community: Mental Health Programme of Mental Health Action Trust. In: Mental Health Care Services in Community Settings. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9101-9_6
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