KAVITA SAJU NAIR
Trustee & Consultant, Bapu Trust (India)
Session:
• Day 1: The Paradigm Shift from the Medical to the Social Model
Kavita is currently working as an Art-based-therapistand project leader with the BAPU Trust, Pune. She is also pursuing ABT Educators Program with the WCCLF, Pune. She oversees the therapeutic groups in the community, working with clients having severe mental disorders and facilitating training programs in non-formal psychosocial care and inclusion.
She has done her M.A. in Social work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and a certificate course in Applied Buddhist Psychology and Ethics, Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Pune.
Over the past few years, she has worked with diverse groups including the KRIPA De-addiction Centre, Pune, an NGO working with people afflicted with chemical dependency & HIV Infection; ARKIN, Pune, a home school for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder; Parkinson’s Mitra Mandal, a Pune based support group for people diagnosed with Parkinson’s; Chetna Mahila Vikas Kendra, Pune, which is dedicated to empowerment of marginalized women in Pune and Sindhudurg, Maharashtra.
She has worked as a Balsakhi in Children’s Remand Home in Mumbai, with destitute children and Juvenile offenders. She is also actively involved with MAITRI, Mumbai a support project for the family members of mentally ill.