Physical Health Nepal Project #33456

Help 100 women suffering from violence in Nepal

by KOSHISH

Help 100 women suffering from violence in Nepal

Project Report | Jun 2, 2021
Providing specialized care even during Pandemic

By Sangam Khatri | Program Officer

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges that have serious implications in many domains of health and well-being. This has created a barrier for women with mental health and psychosocial issues (MHPSI) and made them more vulnerable as they are being deprived of the immediate psychosocial support that they needed. KOSHISH has continued its services even during the pandemic situation. The new beneficiaries who are rescued are at first accommodating in the holding center of KOSHISH for 14 days under observation and shifted to the main transit care service center after confirmation of the COVID-19 negative test.

In three months period, with the help of this campaign, KOSHISH has been able to provide specialized care to 25 women and girls who experienced violence and developed MHPSI. Among them, 16 have been reintegrated into their own family while 9 are under treatment. All of the reintegrated beneficiaries are in a continuous phone follow-up by the outreach team. During phone follow up it was found that all the beneficiaries are involved in the household activities and taking their medication regularly which has helped in their recovery. Also, it was found that 4 of them are engaged in income-generating activities.

KOSHISH was able to provide psychosocial support and specialized care to them through the generous support raised via The GlobalGiving. More women require specialized care and it would only be possible with more helping hands.

Success Story

Paradigm shift

Garima (pseudonym) – 33 years old from Kavre, is leading a sustainable life today. The situation was not the same some time back. After she gave birth to a girl, she was mistreated by her husband and in-laws. Her husband married another woman and started abusing her which affected her mental health condition. She lost her mother in childhood and her sister-in-law was not much positive about her.

Garima was left behind by her family, including her husband, who was unsupportive and showed discriminative behavior. Due to the violence, rejection from her husband and parental family, she mental health conditions got worst.

She received short-term residential psychosocial support in the transit home service center of KOSHISH. Her aunt stepped forward and took the initiative to reintegrate her back at her place when no one from her husband’s family or her own family was ready to accept her. Due to her aunt’s positive behavior, her mental health condition is improving.

As a part of a regular home visit by the outreach team of KOSHISH, the team found that she had now started to be self-reliant. She started goat farming and started earning, sustaining her daily life, and managing her treatment cost.

Garima shared, "I have gone through different stages in my life; from hatred, abuse to violence. But after getting support from my aunt and KOSHISH, I feel like I can have better life than the earlier one. The only thing is I have to work hard and live my life happily."

"I was mesmerized by the change I saw in her. I am glad to see her changes, and I am hopeful for the betterment of her future. -Her Aunt ”

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Feb 9, 2021
Ongoing Mental Health and Psycho-social Support

By Sangam Khatri | Project Officer

Progress Report

With the help of this campaign, KOSHISH has been able to provide specialized care to the women and girls who experienced violence and developed mental health and psychosocial issues (MHPSI). The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic created a barrier to provide services to women who required immediate psychosocial support. There was a high risk of transmission of COVID-19 with an enrollment of new beneficiaries in the transit care service center. Thus, KOSHISH established a holding center for minimizing the risk. The new beneficiaries are accommodated in the holding center for 14 days and shifted to the main transit care service center after confirmation of the COVID-19 negative test.

In three months period, KOSHISH has been able to provide psychosocial support to 17 women with mental health and psycho-social issues. Among them, 9 have been reintegrated into their own families and communities. They are in continuous phone follow-ups and it was found that their mental health condition is improving. During phone follow up it was found that all the beneficiaries are taking their medication regularly. Among 9 beneficiaries, 5 were found to be involved in household activities and income-generating activities while 4 are recovering. All the family members and community people of 9 beneficiaries are supported towards them. It was possible through psycho-education and awareness programs conducted by KOSHISH.

Women with a mental health condition are neglected and out of reach of services. KOSHISH was able to provide psychosocial support and specialized care to them through the generous support raised via The GlobalGiving. More women require specialized care and it would only be possible with more helping hands.

Success Story

Improvement in Mental health condition is only possible with support from family

35-years-old Sarita (pseudonym) was always a good wife, daughter-in-law, and mother. She did everything to make her family happy. For some time everyone worshipped her but once she started showing unusual behavior her family started avoiding her. They took her to traditional healers but there was no improvement in her condition. Her in-laws and husband started abusing her which made her condition worst. She was subjected to isolation. Her husband remarried and abandoned her.After 9 months of seclusion, her relatives informed KOSHISH and she was assessed and brought into transit home for short term residential care and psychosocial support.

In transit home, she was involved in psychiatric consultation and psychological interventions along with engagement in therapeutic activities. Slowly, there was an improvement in her mental health. She started showing enthusiasm to involve in recreational activities. She often expressed her wish to meet her small children. KOSHISH outreach team was continuously contacting her in-laws and husband for their support after reintegration. But they showed reluctance to receive her. During reintegration, the outreach worker visited her in-laws and husband and provided psycho-education. Her in-laws showed commitment to support her but her husband on the other hand was fixed with his decision of abandoning her.

During follow up, Sarita was found to be staying with her in-laws. They are looking after her children and her husband is staying separately with his second wife. She helps her mother-in-law in household works and also takes care of her children.

She expressed, "Though my husband is not with me, my in-laws choose me instead of their son. They are my family now and I will always stay with them."

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Oct 12, 2020
Difficulty to provide MHPSS during COVID-19

By Sangam Khatri | Project Officer

Introduction

This campaign has been initiated by KOSHISH with the aim to provide Mental Health and Psycho-social Support (MHPSS) to the women and girls who experienced violence and developed mental health and psychosocial issues (MHPSI). This campaign supports the women experiencing MHPSI to lead a dignified and quality life and being included in the community on an equal basis as others.

KOSHISH has been providing immediate support to the women with severe MHPSI after conducting Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. In three months period (July-September), KOSHISH has been able to provide psychosocial support to 10 women with mental health and psycho-social issues. Among them, 4 have been reintegrated in their own families and communities. Those women were able to get recovery through your generous support raised via The GlobalGiving.

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mental health of many people especially women as they are more exposed to violence than the normal scenario and are deprived from the proper mental health treatment. It has been challenging for KOSHISH to provide mental health and psychosocial support to the women in need realizing the risk associated with it to the in-house beneficiaries. There is an immediate requirement of Quarantine house to accommodate the new beneficiaries for 14 days before their intake in the main facilities to reduce the risk of transmission of infection. It has been necessity in the present context and KOSHISH has been exploring fund for the purpose.

Success Story

Healing from wounds in the heart

35 years old Muna (pseudonym) from Ramechhap was brought into Transit Care Center during the Lockdown. She is a survivor of domestic violence. Her husband used to get drunk and torture her physically and mentally. She became unable to cope with the emotional and physical abuse and left her home leaving her two daughters behind. She was five months pregnant by then. She started living on streets without proper food and one day she fell on the road which affected her pregnancy. She was brought for treatment at Dhulikhel Hospital with the assistance of social workers from an organization but by then it was too late to save the child.

The continuous torture and abuse from the early days of marriage and loss of her unborn child impacted her mental health. She needed immediate treatment and was referred to KOSHISH Transit Care Center by the hospital. She was then admitted to KOSHISH Transit Care Center. With the psychiatric consultation and psycho-social support in Transit home, her mental health condition improved. She liked to get engaged in therapeutic activities and even helped staffs in the kitchen. She remembered her two daughters a lot and said, “My heart is getting stronger each day and I will work hard for the sake of my children’s future”.

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