EXPLORING RECOVERY WITH DR LAVANYA SESHASAYEE

This was my interview on BBC WORLD. And what does it deal with? It deals with bringing about a woman-empowering approach to psychotherapy and mental health counseling. I invented a support system for mental health that was gender-sensitive and woman-friendly viz-a-viz many of the traditional psychotherapeutic approaches that existed back then, a decade ago, when I was the first person in India to propound a feminist therapeutic framework IN ACTION VIA MY MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICE. This was applauded by many in India and abroad - those were the days when I spent most of my time amongst the poorest of the poor and reintegrating them back to their families that were most unwilling to have them back. Those days were spent in rural and urban villages that most often had no wifi, no internet, no electricity in the evenings and I slept on bare iron cots embedded to the floor...but I was nevertheless very satisfied with having done something for the poorest of the poor women with psychosocial issues - I brought about major changes in their lives!!! Those were the days when the GWRM - GLOBAL WOMEN'S RECOVERY MOVEMENT - was just a gleam in my mind's eye!!! Those were the days when I did all I could do to accrue funding... for the cause I dreamt of!!!

What does a CRPD approach for caregiving of clients with mental health issues imply? What is in need of change as far as the caregivers' response to dealing with psychosocial disability in their wards is concerned? What sort of shift in perspective should the caregiver have? And what is it that truly helps the caregiver in facilitating recovery for their wards? Most importantly what was the perspective towards caregiving that helped me become a very successful peer supporter/experiential expert with a Doctorate in Mental Health starting from a position wherein I couldn't even think coherently or hold a pen in my hand properly? Listen to this podcast and the subsequent ones for nuggets on the right approach to caregiving!! And... have a great weekend!!!

It is often assumed by psychiatrists that a promise of recovery in case of mental illnesses should not be given to the client always as that would be 'misleading'!!! I am here to bust this silly myth!!! The gift of hope of recovery needs to be given to all clients with a so-called 'mental illness' as that would catalyze recovery in leaps and bounds - indeed it is detrimental to not offer hope of recovery!!! 

If you have ever been in the depths of despair and hopelessness, this podcast is for you - it is about cultivating the will to embrace your suffering and responding to it instead of reacting to it!!! It is about how we evolve in the crucible of pain and suffering, about how and where you can find help!!! You may be undergoing an episode of psychosocial trauma or Schizophrenia or simply undergoing horrendous pain due to an adverse life event. Remember you are not alone and there is a solution always!!!

TODAY IS WORLD SCHIZOPHRENIA DAY AND HERE IS MY MESSAGE TO PERSONS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA - YOU CAN RECOVER!!! SCHIZOPHRENIA DOES NOT HAVE POWER OVER YOU. YOU HAVE POWER OVER SCHIZOPHRENIA!!! AND LET'S EXPLORE HOW!!! HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TOLD BY A PSYCHIATRIST OR PSYCHOLOGIST THAT YOU CAN NEVER ACHIEVE COMPLETE RECOVERY FROM SCHIZOPHRENIA? IT'S TIME YOU DISCARDED THAT MYTH!!!

YOU CAN RECOVER FROM SCHIZOPHRENIA OR ANY OTHER FORM OF MENTAL DISTRESS AND I'M HERE TO TELL YOU HOW!!! NO MENTAL DISTRESS IS PERMANENT!!!