Mentally ill homeless individuals are among the most vulnerable members of society. They are often unable to care for themselves due to symptoms like paranoia, memory loss, and lack of motivation. As a result, they are at high risk of physical and sexual abuse, communicable diseases, and physical ailments. Non-profit organizations like Iswar Sankalpa work to identify these individuals, provide them treatment and rehabilitation services, and help reconnect them with families when possible. They collaborate with police and local agencies to rescue mentally ill persons found wandering, and to help restore them to stable living situations.

1. Facts
! More than other homeless people who stick together in families and
communities and survive by begging or working for minimal wages, the mentally
ill are the most vulnerable because they are shunned even by other homeless
people.
! Many have some form of psychosis, and paranoia causes them to distrust
others. They lose their memories, and wander around in a constant state of
hyper-vigilance and fear. Those who have depression and other mood disorders
Support our cause
have no motivation to look after themselves, and with no social or familial
support to protect them from the pain in their minds, remain lost in an inner Homeless people suffering from mental illnesses are among the
world of torment and trauma. The mental illness leaves them incapable of even most stigmatized, marginalized and vulnerable members of
foraging for a meal, keeping themselves clean and protecting themselves from a society. Crudely referred to as 'pagol' on the street, these hapless
hostile environment. persons wander from place to place, lost to their families, ignored
! Mentally disabled women and children on the streets are especially vulnerable by welfare and health agencies, and pariahs to the rest of society.
to physical and sexual abuse. With the mental disease having taken away all Victims of the vicious link between poverty and mental illness, they
physical and mental coping mechanisms, they are totally defenceless against are the least able to take care of themselves, and yet are subject
violence and rape. to a hostile environment that can only worsen their condition.
! Four out of five mentally ill homeless persons also have significant physical
health problems. Unable to take care of themselves, they suffer from physical No one cares to understand that these people are not 'crazy' - all
problems ranging from malnutrition, open lesions, rabies, AIDS and wounds and they have is a mental disease, - an incommunicable medical
are especially vulnerable to communicable diseases. condition that can be reversed with medication, care and a little
! 9 out of 10 mentally ill persons are homeless because they can't remember support.
where they've come from. With treatment, they recover their memories, and
have no reason to be homeless anymore. We believe that each and every one of India's estimated 4,00,000
homeless mentally ill persons has a right to care, a right to dignity,
and a right to all the resources and services that other citizens of
this country enjoy.
Figures - per patient it costs us
We invite individuals, charitable foundations and corporate
! Rs. 2,000/- for repatriation services houses looking for a worthwhile cause to help us with the
! Rs. 3,000/- monthly to provide community based treatment considerable cost of restoring dignity and meaning to the life
! Rs 7,500/- monthly to provide institution based treatment of a homeless mentally ill person.
! Rs. 35,000/- annually to provide rehabilitation services
Sometimes our costs go hay-wire. Madhuri, suffering from schizophrenia, came
to us with multiple bone injuries. Treating her physical injuries at a private
hospital cost us Rs. 70,000/- alone. Please forward your enquiries and donations to Creating a space for the
More figures : 2007 - 2010 achievements
No of patients:
The Secretary,Iswar Sankalpa
138, S. P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata 700026, India
Phone 033 24197451 /52 Mobile 98302 60089
nowhere man
Identified............ 722 Emergencies...... 76
Email: isankalpa@gmail.com www.isankalpa.org In collaboration
Treated............. 598 Referrals ............ 85
Under follow up 178 Repatriated ........ 44 with the
No of patients provided with Support for the mind
Kolkata
Food..... 1292 Clothes.... 784 Hygiene care.... 719 Police
Events and groups
Community Mental Health Committees.......... 2 ( 25 people covered)
Awareness Camps conducted........................ 67 (1768 people attended)
Advocacy Meetings held................................ 9 (241 people attended)

2. Established in June 2007,
Iswar Sankalpa is an organization
that brings psychiatric care and allied
services to the homeless mentally ill
As of March 2010, our team
began providing technical
assistance to police stations
Rescue Restoration
on the streets of Kolkata.
within the Kolkata The process begins when the police identify a Because of the debilitating effect that
OST
metropolitan area to enable person who is creating a law-and-order problem schizophrenia and other severe diseases have
Our team comprises psychiatrists,
social workers, psychologists and
activists who work with hospitals,
them to fulfill their
responsibilities under the
Mental Health Act, 1987.
and appears to be psychologically disturbed.
We send our Emergency Response Unit to
assess the case, and if the assessment
on the brain's cognitive faculties, many mentally
ill people are homeless simply because they are
lost - they've forgotten their own names, cannot
L
state and private agencies and
confirms that the person does need psychiatric remember their families and have very little idea
communities to bring acutely
Under Section 23 of this Act, treatment, we arrange for emergency care, where they've come from - symptoms that can
needed medical treatment to
the Officer-in-Charge of a acquire a doctor's certificate and often provide be usually be alleviated with medication. With
homeless persons suffering from Lost
police station is duty bound overnight hospitalization or shelter until the treatment they gradually recover their faculties
psychological disorders.
to take into protective police can produce the person before a and we make all efforts to repatriate these - and found -
custody any wandering magistrate. people to their homes. in 24 hours
mentally ill person who is .
Nidhi (name changed), was
not able to take care of Once the magistrate assigns the patient to our Prior to our partnership with the Police, the
found by the Maidan Police
himself or is dangerous care, our team takes complete responsibility for latter did not have the wherewithal to deal with
wandering aimlessly on the
because of such illness. The follow-up and support to the patient until release aggressive or traumatised mentally disturbed
Kolkata Maidan on the 15th of
mentally ill person must be from hospital. Often the patient's physical people on the streets in need of emergency
April 2010.
produced by the Officer-in- condition needs to be treated first, and care. As a result these persons remained
Support for the mind Charge of the concerned
police station before the
given the lack of space and facilities in public
hospitals, as well as their reluctance to deal
unattended, deteriorating physically and
psychologically, isolated in an increasingly
She was muttering and
chuckling to herself and
nearest magistrate within 24 with mental patients, we are usually forced to chaotic mental world of their own.
wearing only a shawl. When
hours for further orders. admit him / her in a private nursing home.
approached by our Emergency
Today, with the Police Commissioner ordering
Response Unit, she was
all police stations to actively identify such cases,
initially wary, but revealed her
the prompt detection of a mentally ill person
name and address. Her family
Since March 2010, the Kolkata Police have referred 33 who has wandered away from home allows for
arrived to collect her the next
earlier treatment and quicker recovery, as well
emergency cases to us, of whom 13 have been reunited with day - It turns out that she has
as for speedier restoration of the person to his /
their families, some within a day! been suffering from psychiatric
her family.
disorders for about 3 years,
and is now being treated at
Rehabilitation Protection SSKM hospital.
On 5th December, 2009, Sri Goutam Mohan Chakraborty, Commissioner of Police,
inaugurated a Drop-in-Centre for homeless mentally ill persons at the Hastings
Sarbari, our night-shelter-cum-rehabilitation-centre for
Police Station. We use the Drop-In-Centre as a rehabilitation space for recovering homeless mentally ill women
In collaboration The Kolkata Police have been pivotal patients whose families are yet to be traced, or for those who have no families to go
partners ever since we started work - Mentally sick women are even more vulnerable than men – physical and sexual
back to.
with the they have been instrumental in identifying abuse and repeated pregnancies adds to the trauma of mental illness and
homelessness. Even recovering women patients remain vulnerable - one of our
Kolkata street-dwellers in need of psychological
care, in expediting the process that
Rehabilitation is often a slow and difficult process, during which the patient gradually
re-learns self-care and social skills and begins to engage in the activities of daily
patients, Tuku, was visibly upset when she was given a bath and fresh clothes - she
said that her dirty body and filthy, matted hair kept men away - and we had taken
Police authorizes us to take care of our patients, in
ensuring that state hospitals provide them
living. Our recovering patients are brought in from the streets on a daily basis,
bathed, fed and introduced to a steady routine through various activities. Thrice a
away her only protection. Just how vulnerable women can be was brought home to
with treatment, and most importantly – in us when a patient with schizophrenia - recovering after many months of treatment
week, they are taken to Sarbari, our night-shelter-cum-rehabilitation-centre for
tracing the families of our patients - some of by a community caregiver on the street – was gang-raped and left for dead one
homeless mentally ill women at Chetla, and are exposed to drama, dance and art
whom hail from other states. Through their night in a vacant building lot.
therapy, and also participate in vocational activities which prepare them to return to
Para Football Programmes, they have a meaningful, self-reliant life.
introduced us to various community clubs At Sarbari, which was inaugurated on 25th April 2010, we have a 100 beds, 50 of
who have subsequently been successfully which are reserved for mentally ill women. The premises for this centre have been
Recovering patients, particularly males, often become victims of chemical addiction
roped into our heath and awareness provided by the Kolkata Corporation, and the Kolkata Police refers women-in-
on the street, and the drop-in-centre has been especially useful in preventing them
activities. distress here as well as ensures their security.
from falling prey to street drugs.