Anjali

The Anjali's Voices initiative operates within four government mental hospitals in West Bengal: Calcutta Pavlov Hospital, Lumbini Park Mental Hospital, Behrampore Mental Hospital, and Institute of Mental Care in Purulia. This program is designed to combat stagnant and regressive systems, aiming to instigate systemic transformations within the established framework. The primary goal of Anjali's Voices is to establish a culture centered around individualized care and treatment within public mental hospitals. The initiative strives to facilitate the social inclusion of individuals who have successfully reintegrated into the community.
Our three livelihood initiatives—Cha Ghar, Dhobi Ghar, and Block Printing Unit—are situated within the premises of Calcutta Pavlov Hospital, a state-operated mental institution in Kolkata, India.

Launched in 2007, the Janamana program collaborates with local governments and communities to empower women as grassroots mental health care professionals. By partnering with local governing bodies, the program ensures its sustainability and potential replication throughout India. Janamanas operates by shifting the care paradigm from institutional settings to the community and collaborates with community members to identify and train local individuals as agents of change in the mental health field. This initiative destigmatizes and "normalizes" mental health care by facilitating easy access to information, counseling, the Talk-listen-talk model, and referral services provided by approachable and compassionate para-professionals who are familiar and trusted within the community. It establishes an ecosystem that nurtures mental well-being, empowering women within the community with limited formal education to become advocates of mental health care.

The concept of the Sexuality and Mental Health Institute (SAMHI) emerged as a natural progression of Anjali's endeavours in the realm of sexuality and mental health. The intention was to extend outreach to students, young mental health professionals, medical practitioners, legal experts, and individuals engaged in NGOs, CBOs, donor agencies, and more. SAMHI seeks to enhance knowledge and comprehension of sexuality and mental health matters, enabling the design of more comprehensive programs and intervention methods. The organisation strives to stimulate reflection, study, inquiry, and proactive engagement by offering a platform for dialogue, the cultivation of ideas, and the dismantling of stigma-associated perceptions. Ultimately, the goal is to foster the integration of discussions on sexuality within mainstream mental healthcare services.

In government mental hospitals across West Bengal, there are numerous individuals who have already recovered but continue to reside in these institutions due to abandonment or the inability to locate their families. In some cases, individuals remain in these institutions for a decade or even longer. The Assisted Living Project, initiated by Anjali, strives to uphold the rights of individuals with disabilities by facilitating their transition to independent living while retaining the freedom to choose their place of residence. This project materialized through a collaboration between Anjali, the Department of Health and Family Welfare, and the Department of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare under the Government of West Bengal. The project is centered at a facility named 'Pratyay,' situated on Dr. G.S. Bose Road, Tiljala, Kolkata, West Bengal, capable of accommodating up to a hundred residents. The Assisted Living project aims to facilitate the transition from patient status