This is support group for caregivers. Someone who has to spend a decent part of their life taking care of someone else. They can be supporting someone with a mental health disorder or with a chronic physical ailment. It can also be someone who is a sibling, etc who is part of the support circle of someone who is struggling.

We found that there is therapy and resources for people struggling with mental health concerns but there is virtually nothing for caregivers. No psychoeducation and no support. Caring giving is a very tiring task. To watch someone you care about suffer and to be able to do very little about it yourself. It almost always effects your own mental health. It also greatly effects your relationship with that person and you need to learn how to support them, how to communicate with them and how to draw your own boundaries. That is why we started the group. So that caregivers have a space to vent and support each other.

July. It’s been good. Interesting. We get a different mix of people. Most are coming because someone they know suffers from a mental health concern. But we also have people who have to take care of their ageing parents. This is usually a mental and physical condition.

Anyone who is a caregiver to someone struggling with a mental health disorder or any chronic ailment.

Being a caregiver is extremely taxing as well as confusing. Often we cannot understand what the person we are taking care of is going through which effects our relationship with them. This is separate from the physical addition of work on a caregiver. This support group is meant to allow caregivers to express feeling of guilt, frustration, burden that they may be feeling as well as share one’s individual journey with communication and self-care strategies, etc.

We have a clinic with in-house therapists on a sliding scale of 750rs to 50rs depending on what the patient can afford. We practice psychodynamic therapy. We also have a list of referrals. Our employees are also suicide prevention gatekeepers.

Our employees are suicide prevention gatekeepers. We’ve also done training in the prevention of child sexual abuse. The support group is not therapy or a replacement for professional care. We won’t be providing counselling and we are not a crisis centre.

There is a registration form on the website that needs to be filled each week - after filling this form, there will be an email sent to you. After that coordination and either happen via email or phone. Both are mentioned on our website.

The session starts with the lived experience expert introducing a topic. If there is hesitation from the group about sharing, the lived experience expert starts the conversation. Anyone who wants to share then contributes. Not everyone is required to speak but room is made for everyone to speak if they want. It’s mostly free-flowing. We try to go deeper into smaller topic rather than choose a very broad topic. But it’s important to recognise the needs of the group. We end with grounding exercises or meditation.

• 1.The session will start and end on time.
  * Please arrive 5 minutes prior to the start of the session. If you are more than 10 minutes late, you will not be allowed to participate.
  * It will be a confidential space. Participants are free to use the information received,
  but neither the identity of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be
  revealed.
  * Members are encouraged to share their experiences that contribute to their journey.
  Kindly speak with respect and sensitivity as diverse viewpoints may exist within the
  group.
  * Please do not interrupt other members while talking. You may raise your hand if you
  wish to speak.
  * We will not be having a round of introduction, each participant may introduce
  themselves as they speak.
  * Kindly note this is peer support and not professional intervention.
  * If you feel overwhelmed, feel free to excuse yourself and step out for a while.
  * Please ensure your phone is on silent mode and put it away in your bag.
  * Recording of the session is not allowed to maintain confidentiality.
  * The session will be conducted in English.
  * This is a group where new members may join in for any session.
  * The group is open for people from the community, their caregivers and support
  system.

We hope that they realize the importance of their role in the person who they are taking care of. We hope that they learn to care for themselves and draw their boundaries so that their relationship with their loved one is at least not worsened, ideally improves. We hope they feel relief and support.