This is the story of a group of like-minded & dedicated professionals working in the field of mental health, who wanted to spread the message of "Mental Health for All" in Thane, Mumbai and Maharashtra. This is the story of their belief that stigma attached to mental illnesses & mentally ill individuals can be erased only when the community is motivated to participate in various mental health promoting activities.

In the process, their dream project, the institute, IPH as it is called in the city of Thane, has acquired many distinctions in its eventful 10 years of journey.

It is the only Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in the field of mental health in this country that has such an innovative range of programs, projects & activities.

It is one of the few organizations in the country, which gives highly subsidized care to the community & yet is financially self-reliant.
 

• It has become a place for learning for many mental health professionals who keep on coming as observers & students, not only from this country but also from abroad. Mumbai University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, SNDT Women's university, etc. have recognized IPH as agency where post-graduate students are placed.
   
• IPH has developed a "work culture" within its team members where high degree of professional competence is inculcated & strived for & flexible, creative attitude is fostered in an open environment.
   
• IPH has shared its experiences & expertise with many like-minded individuals & organizations. "Transparency" & "Networking" are the keywords here. This association of IPH with other agencies shows a geographical range from Muktangan Dead diction Centre at Pune to SEARCH, a rural health agency at Gadchiroli, in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. In its community programs, IPH has involved many local organizations & groups.
   
• IPH activity Centre in Thane City is ever bubbling with new ideas without a dull moment. The staff has been trained to perform skillfully even under stress & with deadlines; & yet, there is a lot of fun with work! As one visitor puts it, "you rarely go away from here without that wild, wide enthusiasm brushing on to you!"
   
• More than 2000 new families turn to IPH for help every year. The age group ranges from infants to senior citizens. In IPH, we practice scientific counseling at Individual, Family, & Group levels. Even individual counseling, for example in case of a child, may involve a team approach with contributions from a clinical psychologist, counselor, social worker, special educationist, & psychiatrist. All these different types of expertise is available under one roof at IPH.
   
• Groups at IPH are both compliant specific & disease specific. IPH has a therapy group for hyperactive children as well as a group on stress-management which are examples of "complaint specific" groups. Groups for individuals suffering form Schizophrenia, Epilepsy, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder etc. which are a regular feature at IPH are examples of "disease specific" groups. Additionally, IPH has a range of workshops, camps, seminars, etc. for all age groups of students, parents, teachers, & industrial employees, which keep us busy throughout the year. IPH runs a "Palakshala"- a parenting school- with certificate courses in parenting.
   
• Large scale community events such as career conferences, educational conferences on mental disorders, personality contests, etc. are organized every year with that touch of professional management which by now has become a hallmark of IPH. In fact, for the last 2 years, IPH is running its activities according to a year-planner with clockwork precision.
   
• Deaddiction activities is a pivotal aspect of IPH's' existence. All its activities for children & parents came as an offshoot of its work with alcoholics & drug-addicts & their families. In fact IPH is perhaps the only agency in the country which has developed a range of preventive strategies for addiction. Our mammoth adolescent sensitization project JIDNYASA covered 83,000 adolescents & is one example to this end. Our telephonic helpline "Maitra" is another example. Our educational programs with several industries around the city generate many referrals for our Deaddiction facilities.
   
• For the last 5 years, we are working closely with many corporate houses in & around our city imparting training for various categories of their employees. Times are changing fast & employees for each cadre have to improve on their coping abilities to face the challenges of change. In our yearly schedule, industrial training amounts to a large chunk of our working hours.
• With various types of counseling techniques at individual & group level, a comprehensive battery of various psychological tests is available at IPH. These include IQ tests, personality tests, & aptitude tests. IPH can today proudly say that its testing equipment is as up-to-date as that of a unit of any big teaching hospital.
   
• IPH has carried out projects involving community participation of magnitude larger than even established psychiatry departments have not undertaken for many years. IPH was the first in the country to organize educational conferences for individuals suffering from Schizophrenia, Epilepsy, & Obsessive Compulsive Disorder & also for their caregivers. Its annual career conference VEDH & AVISHKAR, its personality contest attracts participation of thousands of youngsters. More than 150 trained community volunteers work for JIDNYASA (adolescent education program). To monitor its helpline (Maitra), over 70 trained volunteers are putting in their time & efforts and from 26^th June 2000, Manovikas – only project of Mental Health awareness by the people for the people initiated by IPH (50 volunteers).
   
• It is a singular achievement of IPH that after 10 years, so many people from so many age-groups literally walk-in at its activity Centre with a lot of hope & trust. After reaching out to thousands of families till date, we have been able to demonstrate that people's attitudes can be changed & that "holistic medical care" is not a concept to be cherished in books but something that can be practiced in reality. It is also noteworthy that during this journey, IPH has hardly received any governmental financial help on a regular basis.

With this enviable track record behind it, IPH is not complacent & wishes to reach new heights of professional competence with even higher standards of service rendered to its clients. To build an activity Centre of its own, may this prove to be an important milestone in its quest to achieve the dream of "Mental Health for All."