For a revolutionary, Deepali Vishwakarma is more quiet and reflective than you might expect. She's in her 30s, small, with a round face that holds intense brown eyes and a shy grin.
Vishwakarma is a lay counselor in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India — a well-trained community member who goes out daily to fight what novelist William Styron once called a "howling tempest in the brain." She's part of an effort by the Indian nonprofit group Sangath to provide mental health treatment to poor people in India and to show that people with much less training than a psychiatrist or psychologist can deliver effective care. Vishwakarma had 40 hours of training for her role as a counselor.
So her counseling is definitely revolutionary. And some mental health observers wonder if it might work in the U.S.
But it's a controversial approach. Critics say the use of lay counselors means that patients receive substandard care.
[For more of this story, written by Joanne Silberner, go to http://www.npr.org/sections/go...-depressed-find-help]
Comments (1)