Share
Mental Health Support Fund | Promote, Protect and Care for Mental Health
The fund supports contextual, low resource and scalable programs – aimed at taking mental wellbeing services to different stakeholders of and supporting low resource communities.
Looming fear and uncertainty of COVID 19 pandemic has visibly impacted us economically and socially. However there is an unseen pandemic running in parallel, which has touched all of us in different intensities – The Mental Health Crisis. This crisis has limited attention, missing capacities to cope with and missing systemic redressal systems.
The pandemic has further widened the socioeconomic gaps, pushing the low income communities in worsened economic conditions and lingering anxiety for mere survival. The children from these communities have been hit multilaterally:
- Socio-economically with parents predominately being daily wage earners,
- Learning and life skills building opportunities with schools closing down,
- Health with no access to mid-day meals, immunization programs and basic health check- ups,
- Safety with probability of being locked down with abusers,
The pandemic and its lingering effects are here to stay with us for longer, than anticipated. Prolonged exposure to stress, anxiety and absence of the support systems, during this critical time of human development, is likely to develop lifelong challenges. The stigmatization around mental health and absence of requisite support systems for low income communities further deepens the issue. Hence it becomes more urgent to extend services for mental being to children, their parents and caregivers.
The Fund focuses on finding and prioritizing the best approaches suitable for low resource communities in mid of constraints posed by COVID-19 pandemic. These interventions will be cost effective, contextual and scalable for systemic adoption in long run. Some of the examples for support programs are –
Apni Shala Foundation is a practice based organisation with 8 years plus expertise of working on promotive and preventive mental health with children, teachers and caregivers from low income communities in Mumbai. In response to COVID-19, the organisation is working on developing hands on, low resource mental well being programs for different stakeholders of low income communities - especially children.
Your support to the fund will help in developing requisite ecosystem of mental health support to the last mile communities, thank you.
The fund supports contextual, low resource and scalable programs – aimed at taking mental wellbeing services to different stakeholders of and supporting low resource communities.
Looming fear and uncertainty of COVID 19 pandemic has visibly impacted us economically and socially. However there is an unseen pandemic running in parallel, which has touched all of us in different intensities – The Mental Health Crisis. This crisis has limited attention, missing capacities to cope with and missing systemic redressal systems.
The pandemic has further widened the socioeconomic gaps, pushing the low income communities in worsened economic conditions and lingering anxiety for mere survival. The children from these communities have been hit multilaterally:
- Socio-economically with parents predominately being daily wage earners,
- Learning and life skills building opportunities with schools closing down,
- Health with no access to mid-day meals, immunization programs and basic health check- ups,
- Safety with probability of being locked down with abusers,
The pandemic and its lingering effects are here to stay with us for longer, than anticipated. Prolonged exposure to stress, anxiety and absence of the support systems, during this critical time of human development, is likely to develop lifelong challenges. The stigmatization around mental health and absence of requisite support systems for low income communities further deepens the issue. Hence it becomes more urgent to extend services for mental being to children, their parents and caregivers.
The Fund focuses on finding and prioritizing the best approaches suitable for low resource communities in mid of constraints posed by COVID-19 pandemic. These interventions will be cost effective, contextual and scalable for systemic adoption in long run. Some of the examples for support programs are –
- Dissemination of curated content (field tested |age specific | spoken language) for stakeholders through relevant communication channels
- First Aid Mental Health Support to different stakeholders
- Providing practical support to teachers and care-givers on tools of self-care for themselves and children
- A series of workshops (theatre| storytelling | art & many more) that support preventive and promotive mental health
Apni Shala Foundation is a practice based organisation with 8 years plus expertise of working on promotive and preventive mental health with children, teachers and caregivers from low income communities in Mumbai. In response to COVID-19, the organisation is working on developing hands on, low resource mental well being programs for different stakeholders of low income communities - especially children.
Your support to the fund will help in developing requisite ecosystem of mental health support to the last mile communities, thank you.
