Healing & Wellbeing (Healing, SRHR & Empowerment) + Positive Masculinity
An inclusive program for adolescents and youth which merges Dance Movement Therapy and Creative Arts Therapy to promote mental health and break the cycles of vulnerability faced, due to systemic gender-based discrimination, limited access to education and healthcare, and heightened exposure to violence and risk. Using Dance Movement Therapy as the core approach, the programme works on healing, empowerment, and leadership development, with a sharp focus on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and gender-transformative approaches. It nurtures emotional health, trains peer facilitators, and pilots positive masculinity. The purpose is to increase the community outreach of our core issue of promoting mental health through DMT and CAT.
We provide psychosocial care and empower community facilitators who extend healing in their own contexts.
They are empowered to-
- Deliver arts-based mental-health support
- Train facilitators/peers for local impact
- Embed SRHR and positive masculinity
India’s 252 million youth face serious mental health challenges, including academic stress, social discrimination, and limited mental health resources. Research reveals that despite the Mental Healthcare Act 2017, there is still a need for a cohesive, youth-centered mental health approach. This programme aims to fill that gap with interventions using scientifically-backed Dance Movement Therapy and Creative Arts Therapies,suitable for accessible, community-based settings. Due to scarce services and pervasive stigma, help-seeking behaviour is severely limited in India for matters related to mental health and gender-based violence. Communities lack practitioners and awareness of the topic, especially those who work with art-based tools.
Problems include-
- Low mental health awareness & psychosocial support
- An extremely limited number of community practitioners
- Stigma related to therapy
- Low awareness of creative therapies
Safe, inclusive spaces foster expression, resilience, and equitable gender norms.
- Resilience via arts-based healing
- Empowered local facilitators
- Gender-equitable attitudes and behaviors
Linking health, gender, and community systems through creative methodologies.
Domains:
- Social Development
- Mental Health
- Creative Arts
- SDGs: 3, 5 & 10
Pan India
Collaborative partners include:
- Azad Foundation (Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata)
- Karmmarg (Faridabad)
- Grameen Siksha Kendra (Sawai Madhopur)
- Muskaan (Bhopal)
- Vishakha (Udaipur)
- Patang (Odisha)
Individuals and communities gain capacity to sustain wellbeing and address GBV.
- Participant resilience and agency
- Community facilitators trained and active
- Survivor–stakeholder confluence on GBV
- Self-sustaining wellbeing models