Photo published by The Banyan
Vandana Gopikumar is the co-founder of The Banyan (1993)[1], an Indian non-profit working on mental health and women & children from Chennai.
The Banyan
The Banyan runs emergency care centres, supportive housing and community mental health services for homeless people living with mental illness. It operates across ten states.
The Banyan reports the following, on its own site:
- Over 4,000 homeless people with mental illness cared for at its Emergency Care and Recovery Centres
- Over 1,000 people moved from institutional settings into shared homes through Home Again
- Over 10,000 people supported through the NALAM community mental health programme
- Works in ten states of India
- Organisations
- 1
- Based in
- Chennai
- Founded
- 1993
- Press
- 4
References
- [1] “In 1993, Vandana Gopikumar and Vaishnavi Jayakumar encountered a woman walking in the middle of traffic on a busy road in Chennai. She was homeless with a mental health issue and visibly distressed. In their attempts to find her a safe space, they discovered that there were no services that acknowledged the needs of the marginalised constituency of homeless women with mental illness. Several more such encounters over the next few months left the duo disillusioned and the idea was born: they should do something about the problem themselves. This led to the founding of The Banyan on August 27, 1993.” — The Banyan. Source
We record a founder only where the organisation's own site or a published article says so, and cite it above. We don't publish personal details.
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