Our Vision
Basic Needs India envisions that the essential needs of all people with mental illness are satisfied and their basic rights are respected and fulfilled.
Genesis
D.M. Naidu, Founder Director was instrumental in experimenting and promoting Community Mental Health and Development Model in Bangalore in association with Chris Underhill, Basic Needs UK . Ground work began in 2000 and the organization Basic Needs India was registered as a Trust in March 2001
Mission
To initiate programmes that actively involve persons with mental illness and their caregivers to enable them to meet their basic needs and to ensure that their rights are respected and fulfilled.
In doing so to stimulate and support mental health programs in other organizations that promote the cause and influence the public opinion and public policy on mental health issue.
Core Beliefs
“However poor or ill a person is, s/he has the ability to manage his/her life”
Basic Needs India (BNI) grew out of the belief that the rights of people who experience mental illnesses, especially those who are poor, must be addressed at individual level and also in the context of wider world. BNI engages people living with mental illnesses and their carers in processes that are mutually enhancing. All people involved in care and rehabilitation work learn, grow and are strengthened together. BNI addresses both people’s mental health concerns and situation of poverty to ensure sustainable recovery.
The underlying conviction is that mental health issues must be seen not only in medical terms but just as importantly, as human rights issues.
BNI’s main role is that of creating a caring, accommodating and understanding environment to ensure treatment of people living with mental illnesses. Such an effort involves liaising with and including a host of people such as people affected by mental illness, family members and other carers, community members, traditional healers, medical professionals, policy makers and government officials.