Voices

Guiding and growing MHI’s path to the future

In February 2020, we got together with all our team members and advisory board members to discuss what MHI’s values and theory of change should comprise. We also decided on the strategies MHI will work on, in the long term. The following values and ethics will guide all of MHI’s work, collaborations, partnerships and grantmaking: Accountability Affirmation Collaboration Innovation Integrity Reflexivity Respect Social Justice

The organizational theory of change was finalised as follows, ‘By fostering an environment of accessible, affirmative, rights-based and user-centric mental healthcare, MHI seeks to visibilise narratives in mental health that centre structural determinants and foregrounds voices of historically marginalised communities.’

The core strategies that will inform our work are Grantmaking, Advocacy, Knowledge Creation, Communication, Program Design, Ecosystem Strengthening, Queer Affirmative Counselling Practice and Innovation. The MHI leadership and team are committed to these strategies and to activating them in every aspect of our work. 

In November, our entire organization took a mental health week, to recharge and refresh ourselves. We formalised Governance Structures such as monthly reporting to the MHI Chairperson and finalised the organization’s Disability Policy and created standard processes for induction of new employees, performance evaluation.

Our team added four new members: Vaishali Sonavane (Grants Manager), Shruthi M (Project Coordinator), Olimpika Oja (Communications Associate) and Hamsini Ravi (Communications Manager). Our team is now spread across the country, with team members working across different locations.