Women in Distress

Safety, treatment and a way forward

Among the people found living destitute on the street, women are the most at risk and the least likely to be helped. A woman who is homeless and mentally ill faces harm as a routine condition of survival, and many reach us with injuries that have gone untreated for months.

Our shelter maintains a separate, secure women's wing staffed by women, so that a rescued woman is safe from the first hour she arrives.

Why this is needed

There is very little residential capacity in this region for destitute women who are also mentally ill. Government crisis centres are built for short stays and cannot hold a woman who needs long-term psychiatric treatment. Shelters that do exist often will not accept a woman without documents or a police referral. So these women stay on the street, where the harm continues.

What we do

• Rescue and immediate medical examination, always with a woman attendant present.
• A separate secure wing with its own entrance, its own sanitation, and women caretakers on duty at all hours.
• Psychiatric treatment. Assessment and continuing medication, because most of the women we rescue are living with an untreated mental illness.
• Maternal care for women who arrive pregnant — antenatal check-ups, a safe hospital delivery, and care for mother and baby afterwards, together.
• Legal support where a case has to be registered, coordinated with the local police and the district legal services authority.
• Skill training, so that leaving the shelter and living independently becomes a real option rather than a hope.
• Careful reunification. Where a family is traced and the woman wants to return, we verify that the home is safe first. We do not send a woman back into the situation she was rescued from.

How you can help

Donate through our donations page. We are also glad to hear from women doctors, psychiatrists, counsellors and lawyers willing to give time — that kind of help is harder to find than money. Write to president@sevakaro.in.

Report a woman who needs help

Call +91 98573 66381 or +91 70155 01172, at any hour. We do not require the person to have documents or a police referral.