On 21st October, I am flying to India to do a placement at a pioneering charity looking to serve vulnerable women in Chennai who have mental health issues. The charity is inspirational in its outlook - here is a quote about their philosophy:

'Every individual is truly special for the very fact that they exist - in spite of all of the odds. Each of these special lives deserves careful treatment and care to nurture it to fulfillment - from whatever background it was born into and whatever circumstances have impacted its development.

The Banyan began as a direct and heartfelt response to the visible gaps in care and attention for wandering women with mental health problems - in the eyes of society they simply did not 'exist' and there were no services to help them recover their lost lives. In the years since inception, The Banyan saw many more of these lost lives and designed the missing services to reach out to all.. providing the tools for a new life.

The philosophy is to help people find their own path to fulfillment - as everyone is unique and has individual needs, aspirations and capacities.'

www.thebanyan.org

The charity have been kind enough to host me for a week, and devise a timetable that will ensure that I see a great deal of what they do. As a token of thanks, I would really like to give something back to them and I though the best way to do this would be to raise their profile and hopefully a little bit of money to help support the work they do. If you can help me say thank you in any way, I would be very grateful.

Thank you for reading this essay!