ABOUT US
About Us
Who is “Bapu”
“Bapu” is the personal name of a Tamil woman named Savithri, who was born of a culturally elite and rich business family, in Tamil Nadu, India. She was born in the time India was under colonial rule, lived through the war, and during the reconstructive post colonial period, saw the worst of the emerging psychiatric system from within the walls of the asylums. She had moved to Chennai in her late twenties, after her marriage. After the birth of two children, she “went mad”, according to her family members. She heard voices, saw visions, wrote religious verses in Tamil and Sanskrit, and experienced herself to be in deep connection with “Krishna”, a deity who elicited the ecstatic devotion of many renunciates, like Lal Ded, Mira, etc. She broke all stereotypes of being a Brahman woman, giving up all signs of a householder and living the life of an ascetic. Bapu was deeply spiritual, beginning with ritualistic and religious prayer, and later, moving to a personal god. She wrote poetry, sang bhajans, wore the dress of a monk and shaved her head. For deviance from her role as the eldest daughter in law of her marital family.
Our Vision
We want to see a world, where emotional well being is experienced in a holistic manner, and not just as ‘mental disease ‘. We dream of healing environments where every person uses their own capacity to make choices, heal themselves, recover and move on. Recovery methods will be creative,
non-violent, non- -hazardous and playful.
Our Mission
Mission: We create, pilot and monitor community inclusion programs. Such programs enable the autonomy and independence of persons living with a mental health issues and psycho-social disabilities. We work towards linking people with Development services. Programs aim to expand on the aspirations
and potential of communities, to strengthen resilience and opportunities for pursuit of happiness.
Our Flagship Programs
Seher
Seher, Urban Community Mental Health and Inclusion Program, a direct service delivery program of the Bapu Trust. If we ask the
question...
Healing arts in Development
Bapu Trust has believed that “inclusion”, as a value” needs to be passed on through capacity building of multiple stakeholders, as well as persons with disabilities and DPOs.
