KOSHISH, Nepal
Ongoing
In our first project partnership, enabled by support from Jersey Overseas Aid, DDP provided financial and capacity-building support for KOSHISH to set up Nepal’s first mental health drop-in day centre. Since then, the organization has developed into a leading and respected national voice for people with mental health issues, and the drop-in centre became the Emergency Care Centre, for women left destitute, abandoned, abused or forced out of their homes and families through mental ill-health.
The aim is to provide a holistic programme of rehabilitation for women to regain their physical and mental health and, by working with their families and communities, to raise awareness and combat stigma. Since 2011, KOSHISH has supported a thousand women and girls to recover and lead safer and healthier lives. They stay for an average of 3-6 months, and rehabilitation can be a long and painstaking process. You can read individual stories in KOSHISH’s regular newsletter Transforming Lives (pdf).
KOSHISH social workers make careful assessments for the safety of women returning to their families. Alternatively, the women are found other safe havens, and training and livelihoods opportunities. In 2023, the Emergency Care Centre moved into its fantastic new permanent home outside Kathmandu.The new centre will accommodate up to 50 women at a time, and help KOSHISH increase access to mental health services, tackling the treatment gap of over 85%.
The centre still needs funding for the finishing touches to the centre; please get in touch with DDP if you are able to help with fundraising for this great cause.