2026| Caregivers' Meet for setting up Group Home with Assisted Living for Persons with Mental Illness & their families

A report by Aman Batish, Co-founder Manas Mitra

Background

From June 2025 a ‘working group’ of family caregivers (based in and around NCR) was gradually constituted for setting up Group Homes with assisted living/ rehabs for persons with mental illness (PMIs) and their families. These caregivers are affiliated with several self-help and peer-support groups in NCR such as Sambandh Foundation, Shanti Delhi etc. The group has been working on several strategies to achieve the vision of setting up such facilities and in March 2026 a three-pronged strategy was formulated for this purpose as stated below:

I. Advocacy for Government Action (in Delhi & Haryana) for setting up Group Homes and for providing Assisted Home Care

II. Professionally managed facility in Karnal/elsewhere (in collaboration with investors & professionals)

III. Starting a facility in rentable units in existing projects with cooperatively managed services at Bhiwadi.

It was decided that all three strategies will be pursued simultaneously and independently, each headed by a separate core-team.

In this context, the possibility of starting a facility by utilising ready-to-move, rentable units in existing projects at Bhiwadi (point no. III) showed a lot of promise, as it had several advantages, looked most feasible, and immediately doable. After due diligence and homework, the working group formulated a firm proposal and modus operandi and decided to present it to the interested families. 

For this purpose, a Caregivers’ Meet was organized by the working group (facilitated by Manas Mitra) on Saturday, 21 March 2026 at Bhiwadi. A core team was also constituted to work dedicatedly on this concept. A brief report on this meet is presented below.

Summary Report

A brief writeup explaining the concept was shared in the ‘Aasra Rehab Mission’ WhatsApp group of caregiver families (formed for this purpose), along with an invite for a proposed meeting-cum-visit to Bhiwadi.

On the basis of the response, the meet was held at TreeHouse Hotel & SPA at Ashaina Village Bhiwadi, with around 25 people from 10 to 12 families participating, and showing interest in the project.

A presentation on the key features and advantages of the concept, and the proposed framework and modus operandi etc. for the project was made by Aman Batish. The screenshots of the presentation with notes on the content are shared ahead.

Slide-1: The key idea is to build a ‘cooperative community’ of family caregivers of PMIs who can live together in close proximity to share resources, and support each other in times of need, and otherwise also - a system of mutual support for such families.

Slide-2: The core issues that we wish to address besides creating a mechanism for providing assistance in day to day living.

Slide-3: The efforts and homework behind the current proposal and how the working group arrived at it, along with the timeline.

Slide-4: Introducing the working group and how it was formed

Slide-5: Introducing the core-team for Bhiwadi project

Slide-6: The key feature of the concept is utilizing already built, ready to move in, dwelling units (flats or villas) in existing projects at Bhiwadi. The families may choose to either rent or buy the units to move in.

Slide 7: This approach of utilizing dwelling units in already built projects has the advantages including not requiring too much capital investment and minimum risk of loss. Besides there is no waiting for the project to finish as in case of a build from scratch projects. Also, the families can move in on rent on a trial basis to see if things work out for them before making a commitment by buying property, which gives the concept a lot of flexibility.

Slide 8: The services like domestic help, general duty assistants or nursing staff can be hired collectively by the ‘community’ of residents creating a common pool of resources that can be cooperatively managed and paid. This can be done by forming an executive committee on behalf of the community and hiring services from 3rd party services providers.

Slide 9: The common services can be managed cooperatively by the community as per the needs and requirements of the resident families.

Slide 10: Manas Mitra can act as facilitator/incubator, and the legal entity for entering into agreements with 3rd party service providers, and also provide the required framework and legal instruments for managing the operations including opening a bank account for collection and disbursement of funds for common services and activities.

Slide 11: The core team is already in the process of identifying service providers and professionals for the project. The core team has shared more information already on the Aasra WhatsApp group.

The presentation was followed by an interactive Q&A session and discussion where the participants were free to raise their concerns and doubts.

The highlights of the discussion are shared below.

Q) Concerns regarding security: The PMIs may have a tendency to wander off or even run away, how will the security be ensured?

A) The concerns around security can be addressed as follows:

1. Most of the dwelling units to be utilized for the project are inside gated communities with basic security services already in place.

2. The executive committee will further sensitize the security guards etc. making them aware of the presence and special needs of PMIs in the community.

3. Technological solutions like wearable GPS trackers etc. can also be explored where feasible depending on the condition of PMI.

Q) Concerns regarding coordination and conduct of segment specific community/group activities for PMI families?

A) This has two dimensions and both can be addressed within the existing setup itself as below:

1. Availability of suitable venues/infrastructure for such activities - several community buildings and facilities like halls are already available within projects like Ashiana Utsav, which can be rented for segment specific activities for PMI families, and even open parks etc. can be utilised.

2. Availability of participating families for segment specific community/group activities - if enough families move in, participation can be ensured.

Q) How does this address the ‘What after us’ concerns?

A) The best way to address this is by creating a well bonded, close knit and empathetic community, which is the main objective of this concept. However, it needs to be understood that we can only try to anticipate the kind of situations that may arise in the future in such communities and plan for them, but in spite of best efforts, unforeseen things may always come up. For many such situations, solutions will need to be found when the need comes. 

In this regard some very insightful and important points were made by Dhananjay ji and Ritu Sharma ji. The points are summarised below.

Dhananjay ji: The biggest stumbling block in the way of creating solutions for PMI families are caregivers themselves because they want ‘perfect’ and ready-made solutions served on a platter. It is clear that all of us (caregivers) are, without any doubt, in a state of distress and frustrated by our circumstances. We are ourselves resistant to change, and unwilling to move out of our comfort zone. Therefore, we often make even the smallest lack of expected services or facilities as a pretext for not changing, saying this or that is not up to the mark. But, we need to understand the reality - that ‘perfect’ solutions don’t exist, they need to be created.

Ritu Sharma ji: Corroborates what Dhananjay ji said. And added that, caregivers often become so used to their distressful situation that they become ‘comfortable in their discomfort’. For any solution of the problem ‘What after us?’ caregivers first need to force themselves out of their situations. They need to learn to make their loved ones (PMIs) independent.

The essence, in a nutshell, is that the question ‘what after us?’ is difficult to address, but a community based approach is the best shot at a solution. While the solution may not be ‘perfect’ at present and it may also not be ‘everything’ we need, but it will be ‘something’ and better than ‘nothing’, which is the present situation for many PMI families. And, if we all take the right steps, this solution may well become ‘everything’ in the not so distant future. But for that we must MAKE A START.

Some important points regarding community development were shared by Rita Seth ji, based on her extensive experience in community mental health at Sambadh Foundation. 

• She suggested approaching and encouraging local families with PMIs at Bhiwadi to get involved in the concept and become a part of the community of caregivers planning to move there. 

• For this, local families in need of mental health services can be identified to start self-help groups within the adjacent localities in Bhiwadi. That way a healthy and thriving community can be started, and gradually people from our group can move in when they’re ready to shift.

• She also assured that Sambandh Foundation can provide support for this, as far as possible.

The presentation and discussion was followed by lunch and site visits to Ashaiana Utsav and other properties available for rent/purchase by interested families, accompanied by property dealers for these projects. 

The general response about the concept, and quality of the visited projects was good. Some of the families have shown a keen interest to consider moving.

On behalf of the working group and the core team we express our gratitude to all the participant families for coming all the way to Bhiwadi, showing an interest in the concept, and expressing their faith in us by doing so.

Gratitude is also due towards Meenam ji and Swarnalata ji for coordinating and managing everything so well at Bhiwadi, and to Ritu Sharma ji and Rita Seth ji for coordinating with so many people from different groups and connecting them to this initiative through the Aasra group.