The Banyan Voluntary Organization - Term Paper Example

Introduction “The Banyan” as an Organization was set up in 1993 by Vandana Gopikumar and Vaishnavi Jayakumar, who since then has been working towardsrehabilitation and empowerment of mentally deranged destitute women and in investigating and promoting mental health in women through research based evidence. The concern for mentally ill people who are homeless is a public concern since it poses safety risks. Currently, in Delhi alone the incidence of mentally-ill women that are destitute is alarming , nearing 150,000 population ( medindia.com, 2009 ). The organization’s beginnings started from a heart-warming experience of one of its founders – Vandana Gopikumar who was then a student pursuing a graduate program Social work. One afternoon, Vandana saw a homeless woman who was mentally-ill and naked in front of her college, this prompted her compassionate spirit to look for an institution that can accommodate the woman. To Vandana’s surprise, even mental health institutions and known NGO’s refused to take care of the woman. The realization that the poorest and marginalized women of Chenne were left on their own triggered Vandana to organize Banyan. No wonder, the Banyan website asserts that : “ The Banyan has a vision for a Just Society in which the rights and needs of the marginalized are addressed without the exception.”( the banyan.org) The Organization aims to act as an agent of change by raising awareness on critical issues in mental health. In addition to this, Banyan temporarily shelters mentally-ill women for rehabilitation until the time that they can safely go back to their families. Banyan’s philosophy of empowerment has effectively reoriented the community by teaching it to be responsible for its people. In fact an online forum known as idealist.org commented on Banyan’s role to society : “…. Banyan still cares, treats and rehabilitates homeless women with mental health difficulties but it also uses this as a template to demonstrate to the government and other initiatives what is possible…” ( idealist.org ) Therefore, Banyan has accomplished many projects that not only fulfills its mission but shows to the society that it can be done. Banyan’s Mission and Activities The establishment of Banyan was one way of addressing a growing problem in public health – increased incidence of psychiatric disorders that affect society (Murray & Lopez, 1996). Surprisingly, Banyan has a vision and philosophy but no mission statement. Nevertheless, Banyan reflects its mission clearly in its activities which guides the people behind the organization. Banyan’s activities include the support to the training of young scientists on the field of mental health, building of centers that will cater to mentally-ill women , provision of medical care in communities, monitoring the progress of rehabilitated women from the centers, and providing legal aid that will facilitate issuing of Reception Orders . Banyan has centers located in different locations offering therapeutic care to the mentally-ill. Currently, its biggest Transit center is Adaikalam which houses almost 400 residents . Aside from this, an urban health clinic was set-up in a very poor community where suicide rate is high. Since there are too many cases to be entertained at the center, Banyan has launched in 2004 the Dial 100 which is an emergency helpline that is coordinated with the police. Currently, it is building a strong network with other NGOSs that can support Banyan in fulfilling its mission especially in Tamil Nadu. In brief, the vision of its founder has made Banyan a very successful organization that has helped poor people who are mentally-ill. Gaining Access My involvement with Banyan is like an experience of serendipity. I was casually conversing with a new friend on a coffee shop when I asked about how my friend spends her weekends. She responded with pride saying “ Banyan” making me more curious since she seemed so busy on weekends. When she explained the organization and its goals to me, I was easily convinced to meet with the Director of BALM ( Banyan Academy of Leadership and Mental Health ). After the meeting, I was asked to support a proposal which would give them an idea of what I can contribute to their organization. This would also mean that I have to fully understand different aspects of their organization by devoting some of my time inside the organization. Thus, it meant doing volunteer work which would also give me a complete understanding of the needs of Banyan that I could report. In fact, the ideas were endless as I got heavily involved in volunteer work since I started inculcating the priceless values that I gained from my experience there. Nevertheless, it was a challenge for me since I do not have any background on mental health. I started doing research and learned that psychiatric disorders are a common occurrence among people that belong to the lower-class ( Murali and Oyebode 2004 ). This inspired me to unravel the mission of the organization and believe its cause. Suggestions/Plans Knowing this, my take was to improve their reach in the society and the first step that I thought of during our conversation was to improve their presence on a platform that was accessible to all - the internet. Specifically, a redesign of the portal would help relay to potential contributors and volunteers about what is being done by the organization and how the Government plus other fund raisers have recognized the importance and the necessity of the existence of the organization. Poverty inequality and social disadvantage have added to behavioral risk factors in women in India and elsewhere in the world and it is necessary that factors that affect women’s mental health are linked to the community and the country. The importance of mental health cannot be denied when a nation relies on its human resources for development. In a report, the World Health Organization emphasized the important role of Banyan in research on mental health by stating that: “Mental health cannot be fragmented into a casual factor and hence The Banyan was currently taking a right step towards Research and Training in Women’s mental health ,based on evidence of gathered over the past years. “( WHO, 2009 ) The ultimate Objective of the program would be creating a better society with gender empowerment and a more even income distribution, life expectancy and other health improvement. It was also important for researchers to consider community level and individual level determinants of health to include social capital as a factor in sustainable development. The Project will help to do a multilevel analysis on how to reduce the psychological impact of the trauma undergone by the subjects and help them cope with the society that they are going back to. In fact , there are many factors are considered when admitting the women in to the program such as economic issues that may have caused their depression. In the report Gender Disparities in Mental Health by the WHO it was stated that : ‘While women have only their cheap unskilled labor to offer, there is clearly a danger that their working conditions will deteriorate, the insecurity of their jobs will increase, and their standard of living will remain low.’( WHO 2009,p.23 ) Considering the educational background and the social background of the inmates’ rehabilitation had to be unique for each. Empowerment thereafter was to be a priority. There have been instances where inmates have gone back to a full- fledged career, but that was to be done for all. The next point in discussion was how to raise the funds. Though there were enough contributors there were also many such voluntary organizations involved doing in different kinds of improvements. The suggestion that I could make was to highlight the uniqueness of the activity done by the organization as well as emphasis on proposals that are sustainable. Communication Plan / Strategy The plan was to communicate this through the following indicative list of key targets >Opinion Leaders and decision makers in the society >Agencies involved in voluntary activities, Academies and R & D institutions developing related work >Potential Donors and existing Donors, Small income groups willing to help as volunteers >Researchers, Analysts, Academia >General Public The Banyan has to emphasize that it plans to percolate the benefits derived from this investment to the society. A risk reporting channel was to work in the organization which maintains a live project risk assessment preparing mitigation plans for risks identified. Evaluation Plan Evaluation of the above suggestions was to be done every six months by eminent psychologists associated with the Banyan and by the Trustees.The areas identified for evaluation were, among others the following : >Reduction in post traumatic stress for women who are under treatment and who have completed their treatment >Need of multilevel analysis for each inmate which will be of help at a later stage >reaction of patients to the tests/efforts done and documentation of the same >Barriers in achieving the standards required, since those barriers may prove the efforts done to be futile. With help, from the Government, Corporate houses and the target groups, the goals could be realized. We planned to invite even smaller income groups to become a part of this project by contributing to this fund raising appeal. Conclusion The suggestions and recommendations I wrote were submitted to the Director. According to my friend, it was well-received and studied by a panel that would contact me soon. However, it was not the challenging report that inspired me to write, instead it was the exposure to these mentally-ill women that made me think and write. As an individual, I recognized that I can make a valuable contribution to society through Banyan. The effort volunteers expend on sharing time and resources to Banyan makes the organization an ideal model to society by showing that popular participation from the society contributes to human development. One volunteer wrote in an article that the greatest satisfaction is seeing women get back to their families ( Madan Menon, Voices from the Banyan ). Indeed, there is no need for heroic deeds since even a small gift would help the organization to help a whole lot of marginalized individuals to reach a new horizon, to build a better world for you and me. References Murray, J.L., and Lopez, A.D. 1996 ,’ The global burden of disease: A comprehensive assessment of mortality and disability from diseases, injuries and risk factors in 1990 and projected to 2020’.Summary. Boston: Harvard School of Public Health, World Health Organization. The Banyan. Vision. Viewed April 2009, http://www.thebanyan.org /html/ vision.html. The Banyan . Meet The Banyans Mr. Fix-it: Madan Menon. Voices from the Banyan. Viewed April 2009, http://www.thebanyan.org/html/meetvol.html. Vijaya Murali & Femi Oyebode 2004, ‘Poverty, social inequality and mental health.’ Advances in Psychiatric Treatment ,vol. 10, 216–224. Medindia 2007, ‘Nearly 2,500 Mentally Ill Women in Delhi are Destitute: Abdul Kalam’, 09 March,p.1, viewed April 9, 2009, http://www.medindia.net/news /view_news_main. asp?x=19001. Idealist.org . The Banyan. Viewed April 2009 ,http://www.idealist.org /if/i/en/av/ Org/114203-315/c. World Health Organization. Gender Disparities in Mental Health. Viewed April 2009, http://www .who.int/ mental_health /media/en/242.pdf World Health Organization. ( 2009)Gender and Women’s Health -The World Health Organization. Viewed April 2009 , http://www.who.int/mental _health/prevention/ genderwomen/en. Bibliography Referencing: the author-date system (also known as the Harvard referencing system) 1996, Student Learning Support Group and Text and Editorial services, Flexible Learning Centre, University of South Australia, Underdale. National Institute of Mental Health, 2009 , Women and Mental Health, viewed April 2009 ,http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/women-and-mental-health/index.shtml Wikipedia. The Banyan organization. Read More