167

    

t

hat

is severely neglected in India, more so for

at-risk populations like the homeless, poor,

indigenous communities, the disabled,

children, victims of violence, abuse and

discrimination, and the elderly. Originally

a research, training, capacity building and

advocacy initiative of the mental healthcare

NGO, Banyan Academy of Leadership

in Mental Health (BALM) works among

mental health professionals to develop

leadership and comprehensive mental health

solutions in 17 districts of Tamil Nadu,

Kerala, and Maharashtra.

BALM sees the urgent need to create a

non-specialist community based workforce

and mainstream mental health into physical

health, education, employment, social care,

governance, and development. Its programmes

cover integrated mental health education in the

community through evidence-based curricula

that combine theory and practice. e

community participates in fieldwork practices

and research, and collaborations with other

non-governmental organizations or corporate

bodies enrich their initiatives. Awareness

about and involvement in the diploma

programmes breaks barriers and enables

increased engagement, de-stigmatization and

Ban

yan Academy

of Leadership in

Mental Health (BALM)

•

•

•• •

B

ALM diploma alumni home visit, offering

support to a family going through psycho-social distress

ollowing pages (168–169):

Diploma alumni organizing

neighbourhood learning centres for children

F

ounded by Dr. Vandana Gopikumar,

Vaishnavi Jayakumar and Balraj Vasudevan

in 2007

BALM, or Banyan Academy of

Leadership in Mental Health, seeks

to fill the gap that exists in the mental

health landscape in local contexts

by creating a cadre of mental health

professionals and a grassroots

level workforce. It offers education

and undertakes action research

that facilitates model building,

human resource development,

social entrepreneurship and

intrapreneurship, and mental health

service user engagement. BALM was

a Drafting Committee Member of

the National Mental Health Policy,

2014, and the Tamil Nadu State Youth

Policy, 2017, and has been appointed

to the National Human Rights

Commission, Central and

State Mental Health Authorities.