Accommodation

After some sustained efforts we have been able to increase the bed strength from 8 to 30 residents in our new set up. The strength of the residents varies from 22-26 at present GoWB has leased us 12 katha of vested land, on which we have built our new building with financial support from the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, GoI, CASA, Australian High Commission, Comtrust Charitable Trust, and hosts of individual donors. We moved to the new building in July 2006.

Activities related to Rehabilitation Process of the Present Residents

1) Pharmacotherapy and Psychological Counseling
Pharmacotherapy is a vital component of the process of treatment of mental illness. Depending on the type and severity of illness, different types of psychotropic drugs in various degrees are prescribed to individual patients. At Paripurnata, every week, the psychiatrist assesses the requirement of psychotropic drugs of each resident, according to their needs. He also interacts with the patients. Medical history of each individual patient is maintained.

Continuous psychological counselling, along with pharmacotherapy and other therapies are an integral part of the healing process of the mentally ill. At Paripurnata psychological counselling is conducted almost every month for an individual resident. During the counseling, the mental state, progress or otherwise in cognitive inputs, any deep - seated anger, frustration etc of the resident are assessed and counseled accordingly. The output of the counseling session is noted by the psychologist.

Occupational Therapy

This is a very important aspect of the rehabilitation process we follow because we believe that it is necessary for the residents to remain creatively occupied. Moreover the occupational therapy sessions help us to look for the hidden skills in the residents and train them in suitable vocations to increase their chances of being accepted in their family and the communities. This also helps them assimilate with the mainstream society as productive members. Presently, the Occupational Therapy consists of training in Sewing, Weaving, Bandhni Work (tie and dye) and food processing.

1) Sewing
Arrangements have been meant to enable more residents to learn the basics of sewing. The residents who have better skills are being encouraged to make simple items like, petticoats, pillow covers and handkerchiefs etc. Gradually we want to introduce embroidery and knitting.

2) Weaving
Our experience shows that this trade suit our residents quite well as they mostly come from rural areas. We have planned to introduce training in weaving of side bags, tablemats and purses etc.

2) Bandhini work & Food processing
The process of Bandhini work as well as food processing (e.g making of squash, jam, jelly, pickle etc.) have been introduced with the help of Ankur Kala, a Kolkata based voluntary organization.