Past Activities

Some of the activities of the Trust in the past thirty years since its inception have been:

Production of pamphlets on mental health and illnesses; Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Abuse for students, parents, teachers and the general population. These have been distributed in schools, colleges, hospitals and clinics. The problem areas covered were Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Mental Retardation, Schizophrenia, Affective Disorders, Phobia, Panic Attacks, and Tension Headaches etc. These have also been distributed to patients and families in mental health facilities.
Dissemination of information to the general public through print and electronic media through written articles and participation in interviews.
Building action groups at the school level and in the slums to fight the problems of drug abuse.
Counselling people with mental distress and illnesses and their families (free of cost to the needy) is another activity carried throughout the year with the help of trained mental health professionals.
Various celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Kapil Dev, Meenakshi Seshadri, Satish Shah, Kadar Khan and Dheeraj Kumar have supported joint programs of Mind Vision Enterprises and RAHAT through public service messages for various programs over the years.
The RAHAT team, including experts in mental health conducted a two day in house training program in May 2009, ‘Mind Matters’ on recognition of mental health and mental illnesses, stress management and basic counseling skills to spiritual caregivers/practitioners of the Brahmakumaris World Spiritual University Retreat Centre at Manesar, NCR, Delhi.
RAHAT Charitable Trust and ‘HelpAge India’, a premier level national organization working for the care and cause of the elderly came together to hold bimonthly seminars for the elderly entitled ‘Active Ageing for Healthy Living’. The first seminar on ‘Spirituality – A Panacea for All or need of the elderly?’ was organized on 21st October 2002. The 2nd seminar ‘Staying Younger While Living Longer’ was organized on Thursday, 26th December 2002 at India International Centre. It was inaugurated by Dr. A.K. Walia, Hon. Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of Delhi. The third seminar on ‘Nutrition and Fitness’ for the elderly was held on 25th March, 2003 while the fourth seminar in the series focusing on mental health of the elderly, ‘A Healthy Mind for Healthy Ageing’ was organized on Thursday, 3rd July, 2003.
Psychovision 95, a conference on Mind-Body medicine and Spirituality was held as part of the Perfect Health Mela with RAHAT as a partner organized on 1st November 1995 at Scope Convention Centre, Delhi. It was attended by more than 20 N.G.O.’s, 12 spiritual organizations and others, like school children, general public etc.
Documentaries on different aspects of stress, mental illnesses and substance abuse were supported by RAHAT and technically collaborated with Mind Vision Enterprises for the television channel, ‘Doordarshan’ from 1995 onwards. The projects were conceived and supported by the RAHAT trustees and team. The trustees as well as the staff volunteers have been involved in reaching out to the general public through various media and answering the letters that were received from the public. The programs where ‘RAHAT’ Trust, its trustees, employees and volunteers helped include :

‘Mindwatch‘, a 26 episode series on Mental Health (created in English and later dubbed in Hindi), which was repeatedly telecast on National Television (Doordarshan) with an estimated potential viewership of about 250-300 million in 1996. It has since been archived and dubbed in eight languages and DVD packs of it are now available for educational purposes.
‘Khamosh Shatru’ on AIDS (the first ever six part documentary series on AIDS in India for NACO, Ministry of Health, Government of India)
‘Better Halves’ on women’s issues and health
‘Body-Mind-Soul’ on Holistic Health
‘Azadi-Ki-Ore’: 50 years of health in India

Subsequently, the letters received through the Audience Research Cell of Doordarshan were answered individually as well as relevant material was sent by the volunteers of RAHAT. The program also acted as continuing medical education to doctors around the country.

Organized a seminar entitled ‘Physicians Initiative against Drug Abuse’ which was held in 1993 in New Delhi for doctors with the Delhi Medical Association to create awareness on mental health & substance abuse.
Organized a ‘Rock Concert’ on 1st October, 1991 in Gyan Bharti School, New Delhi. The students also participated in a poster competition on drug abuse. It was managed by the students of the school for the social cause of ‘Fight Against Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco Abuse’.
‘RAHAT’ has been instrumental in bringing about audio material on ‘Stress’, which were distributed free of cost to those needing it.
RAHAT collaborated with the Richmond Fellowship Society, India, Delhi Branch, to provide assistance in carrying out community outreach program for education, identification and treatment for mental illness in the NCR region.
Disseminated information to innumerable Internet users through ‘Psychospeak’ through the Internet dialer iolpl.com and the Trust website www.rahattrust.org , to provide awareness on psychological health and mental illness.
The World Psychiatric Association recognized the work of RAHAT by involving it as a centre to carry out a study on patients, families and general physicians on ‘Fighting Stigma & Discrimination Because of Schizophrenia – India Initiative’. This was a part of 70 country experience and ‘RAHAT’ was one of the six collaborating centres in India.

The beneficiaries of the various activities undertaken by RAHAT are members of the community and general public, including families of and those suffering from mental health problems. The services are rendered free of charge without any discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, sex or socioeconomic status.

The various audio visuals productions, especially during COVID-19 HAS BEEN INCLUDED BY World Psychiatric Association (WPA) on their website www.wpanet.org as trusted partners.