Anubhuti has been building connections with NT-DNT ground leaders across Maharashtra since we started working with these communities in 2020. Since then, there have been requests to take our sessions to the towns and villages where many of their people live and work. Thus, last year we had travelled to Indapur and Jejuri in Pune District to hold the first ever workshops on Mental Health with women there.
Similarly this year on 18th October, we went to Nashik, to interact with women and men of the Vaghya Murali (perform in religious ceremonies) communities regarding their mental health, build their literacy and awareness around the same, and understand their issues. We acknowledge the efforts taken by community leaders Sita Jagtap and Chhagan Shinde – who themselves live in Kalyan in Thane District and have been participating in our programs since long – and followed up with us, and their peers in Nashik, to organize this workshop so that more of their people could benefit. More initiatives were planned at this workshop, with other leaders who had come from their villages to Nashik town. Thus, a chain system of grassroot leaders continue to be formed to take our community mental health work to more intersections, with more grassroot leadership.