Women’s Mental Illness Partner

The Banyan is an organization that cares for and rehabilitates homeless women with mental illness found on the streets of Chennai, India. The organization provides women a safe shelter, care, medical attention, and a supportive environment to enable them to recover and to take responsibility for their lives again.

The group also supports the women's return to their families and communities; when this is not possible, it supports the women in setting up new lives for themselves. The Banyan seeks to establish lifelong support systems for their patients and is at the forefront of fighting the taboo that is associated with mental illness in India.

One of The Banyan’s core beliefs was that the women needed to receive timely treatment and to be rehabilitated in mainstream society. Since its seeds were sown in 1993, The Banyan has reached out to over 1500 women, successfully rehabilitating over 850 women all across the country.