Community
We work with communities to heighten awareness of the link between social structures and mental health.
Most of us have been taught to see distress as something that happens inside a person: a weakness, a flaw, a failure to cope. We have also been led to believe that the distress we carry is normal and justified. When communities begin to see how patriarchy, capitalism, caste, religion and other dominant structures shape what they feel, something shifts. Pain that was carried alone is understood as shared. People begin to question what they were made to believe, and to reclaim their minds.
We believe that if the origins of our difficulties lie in the systems we are part of, then the possibilities for change also lie there. So we take this work into communities, and we want mental health education to reach those who have been marginalised by class, sexuality, gender, caste, religion, disability and more.
We do this in two ways. We collaborate with organisations that already work with communities, and help them integrate this lens into what they do, so that the care and support they offer is affirming, inclusive and anti-oppressive. And we hold open spaces for dialogue and exploration, for anyone who wants to think together about the connection between social structures and mental health, whether they belong to a community, work with one, or are simply curious.
We work alongside communities, not on them. Our hope is that communities can engage with these structures without polarising, and find their own capacity to heal, together.
“How does awareness reach a community? We work in two ways.”
Collaborating with Organisations
We work with organisations whose focus is the development of the people they serve. Together, we interweave this way of thinking into their work, so that how they understand and support people recognises the social structures that shape their lives.
Depending on what the organisation needs, our support can take these forms:
Support Groups
We hold support groups where people can share what they carry, and find that it is not theirs alone.
Clinics
We run clinics alongside the organisation, offering mental health care that keeps the person’s social context at the centre.
Psychoeducation Initiatives
We design psychoeducation relevant to the issues the organisation is working towards, helping people see the link between what they go through and the structures around them.
Our collaborations are shaped by the issue the organisation is working on, such as youth, caste, religious minorities, socio-economic status, or sexuality and gender. Whatever the issue, we help bring in the link between what people go through and the social structures around them, so that they can begin to reclaim their minds.
Prabhava Parisar
An open space for dialogue and exploration. This will host an online/ in-person dialogue space once every two months on a topical issue in mental health. The intent is to be in tune with what is happening around us and its impact on mental health and to engage not only with the mental health community but the community at large since mental health impacts everyone.
Some of our conversations so far:
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Mental Health in Times of AI: A Generational Perspective
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Re-imagining Mental Health with Therapeutic Communities
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Our Encounters with Disability
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Crochet & Conversations
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Can Personal Change Happen in Isolation?
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Unhoused Minds and Inhospitable Environments: A Psycho-social Exploration of Trauma, Exclusion and Violence