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Sangath

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parenting interventions for

children

with autism. Inclusive education

in schools. Transforming the school

environment to promote young people’s mental

health. Supporting older adults struggling with

chronic diseases. Providing therapy for harmful

alcohol consumption and depression. All these

are innovative health interventions designed

by the pathbreaking organization, Sangath,

catalysing equitable access to mental health, and

transforming the narrative of fear and shame

around mental health conditions..

‘Sangath began with the establishment

of a child guidance clinic to serve children

with developmental disabilities and their

families in Goa. A realisation dawned that

this specialist-led, clinic-based traditional

approach was modelled on services available

in wealthy countries, but seemed a poor fit in

the context of India with its massive scale of

unmet needs, compounded by the scarcity and

cost of specialists,’ says Professor Vikram Patel,

Co-Founder & Managing Committee Member,

Sangath.

To address this, the NGO developed a

model of psychosocial interventions to suit

Indian realities, delivered by community

health workers and lay counsellors, which

are then evaluated in world-class clinical and

Anganwadis become courtyards of learning about maternal

and child health

Following pages (118–119)

: Over cot and chai:

community collaborations between supervisors and trained

frontline counsellors are the cornerstones of capacity building

Founded by a group of child development

and mental health professionals in 1996

Sangath endeavours to make quality

mental health care accessible and

affordable for all, by addressing mental

health concerns through innovations

including deploying community

resources, digital technology, and

stakeholder participation. With its

headquarters in Goa, two major hubs

in Bhopal and New Delhi, and field

offices in various sites, Sangath has

worked across India. Sangath won the

MacArthur Foundation’s International

Prize for Creative and Effective

Institutions in 2008 and the WHO

Public Health Champion of India

award in 2016.