With a strong team of psychiatrists, counsellors and social workers Practical life skills farm were brainstorming to develop programs for people struggling with alcohol addiction, drug addiction, psychiatric illnesses, and old age related problems like Dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Practical life skills farm, the drugs and liquor de-addiction support group, assists the participants in dealing with life’s obstacles with renewed vigour and constructiveness. Established in 2008 by Indrajit Deshmukh and Rahul Bam the founder and the Project lead of the NGO’s that works in Mumbai, Andheri and 2 counselling centres in Pune, practical life skills farm carters to at least 300 patients every year and counting.
Drug and Alcohol addiction is spreading like an epidemic, with a huge proportion of the population falling for it in today’s society. Alcoholism and drugs has effected every generation but there is no single age group of people more affected by alcohol and drugs than young people says Indrajit Deshmukh. “Spreading Awareness among the youth and helping them to recuperate from the drugs and Alcohol and bringing assertive ness towards life is what our NGO is working for”.
WHO – World Health Organization has categorized alcohol addiction as a disease and has put it at par with diabetes. like how a patient suffering from diabetes need to refrain from sugar – same way someone suffering from these addiction needs to refrain from alcohol so that it doesn’t get life threatening.
On visit NGO, “We get girls as young as 19 years old who want to leave the addiction. We talk to them and get connected to the thought of leaving alcohol and drugs,” Akankha B, an active member of Practical Life Skills.
Akanksha. B says “I had started using “Molly” a variant of MDMA in college with friends. Soon I dropped out of college and started stealing jewellery from home to support my habit at the end I was left depressed and felt suicidal. I came across Practical life skills through one of my friend’s recommendation. This NGO helped me out with the innovative treatment. At times, during treatment I use to be violent & abusive, but with the help of medicine, yoga & meditation they helped me calmed down and eventually reduce my dependencies on drugs, it has also helped me in to set new educational & career goals. And now I am re-enrolled in a fashion designing program and doing well.
“Recovery is not part of my life it is my “Life” & I got my life back in practical life Skills”, say’s Akanksha B.
“Choose life not drugs and I choose practical life skills to get over my drugs”, says Rahul age 26 (Marijuana addiction) another member of PLSF.
Dr. Amod Borkar , Psychiatrist by giving of the example of a patients says , there was a man Imran. S, whose addiction to alcohol ruined his life. While joining the centre his wife had left him taking with her their 8 year old son. He had also lost his job, beginning of the treatment he was in denial of his problem but as time went by with the help of his counsellor he accepted his problem & started taking responsibility for his recovery. After being in treatment for 5 months he has reinvented himself, got a new job & is in process of uniting with his family.
Addiction affects an individual -Physically – Mentally & Spiritually says Indrajit explaining, we help them to increase their capacity for stress and tolerance , to develop skills to identify anxiety and better cope with it, increase their frustration threshold and create a support system to prevent relapses. PLSF treatment program is based on Buddhist Psychology & Ethic as it is a more India centric model of mind & matter and is more applicable to the Indian setting than the western model of psychology. PLSF also use art based therapy which is a more activity & experiential learning based model of therapy.
But as it is with any other disease, psychiatrists stress that ” prevention is better than cure ” even in the case of addictions, and suggest simple ways for families to prevent children from substance abuse, or at least catch the problem early. Psychiatrists urge parents of teenagers to be more aware of what is happening in their children’s lives, and talk to them openly about the ill effect of alcohol and narcotic abuse, to dispel some of the curiosity and novelty of recreational drugs.
“The parents should also be good friends with their adolescent children and should realise that they cannot substitute quality time spent with their kids, for extra pocket money. Parents should hold kids accountable and keep track of their spending habits, albeit in an unobtrusive way. And once a child becomes dependant on drugs, parents should fight the social stigma attached to the situation.
“I’ve seen parents who are so ashamed that they want to send the child away to another city, or to his grandparents’ home, hoping time away would cure him of the habit. Instead, they should encourage and support him while he is trying to quit, and also seek professional help,” says Dr. Amod Borkar.
