Introduction to the Workshop
	A national workshop on mental illness and homelessness was held from the 25th to the 27th of August 2004 in Chennai. The objective of the workshop was to share experiences of various NGOs involved in providing care to the homeless and the mentally ill and to identify key areas for action, especially pertaining to the homeless mentally ill. The workshop was organised by The Banyan and funded by The Sir Ratan Tata Trust bringing together 35 NGOs, government organisations and activists. (Click here for information about participants to the workshop). It was the first workshop of its kind and brought together a diverse group of organisations working with the mentally ill, the homeless and the homeless mentally ill both in rural and in urban areas. (Click here for information about the organisations that participated) The workshop participants reviewed the current scenario of mental health care and homeless mentally ill and identified key areas for action. These have been put together as a manifest, which highlights the right to mental health care as a basic right. (Click here for the manifest and information on the discussions of the workshop) On this website you will find the proceedings and outcomes of the workshop, information on the participating NGOs, the presentations of keynote speakers and resource persons (Click here for information on the keynote addresses and resource person presentations) as well as the background reading materials. You can review or download the information of this website. In case you are interested to participate in this endeavour, please register with e-group or directly get in touch with Vaishnavi at The Banyan.