Introduction

Sumant Narayanrao Thakare has finished his Bachelor of Commerce degree (B. Com.) and lives in Nagpur. He is a first-year Law student but had to drop out owing to family responsibilities. He got introduced to social welfare through his activities as a part of a dhol tasha pathak from 2012-2016. 

From 2016 till the time Covid hit, he worked first part-time and later full-time with a Pune-based NGO working with mentally-ill patients. He started and grew the Nagpur operations of this Pune-based organisation. When Covid hit, he was asked to let go of his job and his responsibilities. However, it was an unfortunate situation for Sumant and his family as they were dependent on his income and he had loans. He persisted, worked and started paying off his debt. Meanwhile, he received a call from Prasanna Karandikar asking him to join TWJ-TSR efforts on providing mental healthcare services. He joined TSR on December 30, 2021. 

Background

While Sumant was working with the organisation in Nagpur, he was working with the mentally ill and destitute persons. He realised that with a little help, their lives can be changed for the better. From 2016 to 2019, he supported nearly 150 mentally ill people on the streets of Nagpur. 

At TWJ- TSR, from December 2021 till August 2022, his work has positively impacted 10 destitute mentally ill patients, 5 families of mentally ill patients and 2 destitute individuals. 

Success case 

The name of the institute is now registered with the Regional Psychiatric Hospital, Ratnagiri. During the first meeting of the Visitor Committee, Sumant was required to find the address of the family of a mentally ill patient who’d since been cured. He found the address and the family and helped to reunite the woman with her rightful family. 

During a recent case of bringing a man from the streets to the mental healthcare institution, Sumant recalls the reaction of a tea vendor who had seen the ill patient for years and lamented that nobody else thought of taking him (the ill person) to the hospital. 

Future

According to Sumant, there are many challenges that mentally ill patients and their healthcare providers face before ensuring appropriate care reaches them. A lot of the patients are from other regions and states, who speak a different language, speak gibberish or speak incoherently due to illness or amnesia. In such situations, it becomes difficult to find their problems or to communicate with patients who are homeless or whose families refuse to accommodate them are accommodated in institutions working for the destitute. 

Sumant believes that the mindset of society is changing for the better regarding mentally ill and destitute patients. Sumant is confident that if society’s mindset about the rehabilitation of mental patients changes, the work will continue at different levels.