Hridoyer rong

Details of execution: 

Being in the field of social empowerment, Rainbow members have quickly understood that social and financial discrimination is affecting the mental health of people across the various strata of society. The social notion of mental support is not helping either in getting treatments and help from specialists. To bridge the gap between the existing support and the mass, Rainbow has launched Hridoyer Rong. It is a very popular and ongoing program where patients identify themselves and get treated by multiple trained clinical psychologists. Over the past eleven weeks, twenty-seven patients have held a consulting session of at least an hour with thirteen of them required to undergo follow-up counseling. Five of them were referred to neuropsychiatrists requiring medicinal help. A vast majority of the patients belong to the 25-35 age group from Purba and Paschim Bardhaman, Nadia, and Kolkata. A key feature of this effort is to keep the identity of the patients secret for them to avoid unacceptable social discretion. The members also think that social taboos around mental health need to be dealt with directly and plan to start a campaign to address it in the neighborhoods of Katwa and the surrounding public. The program has been a hit in many senses with patients and doctors appreciative of this effort alike and treatment requests continue to pour in even now.