Bengal's first trained barefoot community mental health counsellor honoured

Stop guilt tripping! That's what they say to bring to the fore an effort that can prevent another suicidal moment in future. Be it Bengal, India or the world, mental depression has reached its peak and all concerted efforts to address it must receive due recognition.

In this scenario, Manika Majumdar, Bengal's first trained barefoot community mental health counsellor has received the President's award for exemplary contribution to this field.

Earlier this week, President Pranab Mukherjee handed over the prestigious CII Foundation Woman Exemplar Award 2017 worth Rs 3,00,000 to her at a function in New Delhi.

A victim of domestic violence and abuse, facing abject poverty and forced to discontinue her education, Manika along with her seven associates set up Anjali Janamas Swastha Kendra to engage in a selfless service for the middle-class and the poor.

"I have seen violence in the family with my own eyes. It is a wrong concept that only the rich suffer from mental illness. It is equally present among the middle-class and the poor but as their awareness of mental health is not upto the mark, they finally become a major burden to family and society." They are rendering selfless service in the Rajarhat-Gopalpur municipality for the past one decade providing counselling free of cost. At Tentultala, they have set up a kiosk where service is provided. Anjali Janamanas, an NGO, working in the field of mental health has been carrying out extensive research besides providing livelihood to the inmates of mental hospitals and are carrying out extensive awareness programmes.

Manika and her associates visit every household between ward numbers 1 and 10 under Rajarhat–Gopalpur municipality and distributes leaflets on mental health and ask the residents to go through them. On the second day, she begins to talk about the problems related to the ailment and asks the person whether he/she was having problems like tension or depression. "Initially, we had faced tremendous opposition.

As mental health problems are related to social stigma, people did not want to open up. After several sittings they started talking and I was able to understand their problems. Then the counselling started and over the years we have helped them to overcome depression and tension and lead a normal healthy life," she said adding: "Every day new problems are cropping up.

There is problem between spouses, with in-laws. Parenting has also become a major issue." To counter the fresh set of problems, Mazumdar, who has taken counselling lessons in Anjali Janamanas, constantly updates herself. "One has to have patience to treat people suffering from depression and over the years, the residents have seen us and now most of them cooperate with us. In the past one decade, we have become successful in making locals aware that mental health should not be ignored."

Ratnabali Roy, well-known mental health rehabilitator says: "It is a great thing that the Centre has recognised a barefoot mental health counsellor. As mental health-related problems in India is spreading like wildfire and there are such less number of doctors and counsellors, we have to train barefoot counsellors and send them to the villages to address the issue."