Marginalised Genders and Sexualities

Partners

Raahi

Raahi was initially formed by activists from marginalised genders and sexualities, and in 2015 was registered as a trust. The organisation endeavours to work towards creating a world where persons from marginalised genders and sexualities live a life free of violence and discrimination — a life with dignity, self-reliance and self-sustainability. Raahi provides shelter, legal and medical support, and support for mental well-being for persons in crisis.

MHI core-funding will enable Raahi to carry out the following activities:

Sensitizing stakeholders such as family members, education systems, government bodies and mental health professionals on issues regarding communities marginalized by gender and sexuality.

Providing holistic support serives including legal support, shelter, medical support, advocacy work and support towards mental well-being. There is a scarcity of queer-friendly mental health professionals which becomes further heightened during a situation of emergency which a crisis case brings. Raahi will therefore work towards building robust systems to focus on mental health interventions. The organization will also focus on alternatives to talk therapy and work  towards a community-based healing praxis.

Referrals and support for cases of domestic violence, crisis cases of cisgendered gay persons, communities of those assigned female at birth and other marginalized communities. Raahi will also refer persons in crisis to mental health, shelter and employment services. The program will work to systematically build a network of queer-friendly professionals across South India. 

Training and empowering communities to carry on crisis intervention work on their own. To this end, Raahi will conduct training programs with various groups and community organizations towards building a strong network and system for crisis intervention for communities marginalized by gender and sexuality. The trainings will cover crisis intervention, including related skills, strategies and techniques. Raahi will facilitate multiple training programs across South India so as to involve more community members. The organization will also work towards training and sensitizing mental health professionals in handling cases of crisis and providing queer-friendly services.

 

To learn more about Raahi's work, visit their site.