Book Name : Hidden in Full View

Semi-clothed and disheveled, distraught and confused, ranting and raving, aggressive and at times even violent, violated and abused, ignored and forgotten – such is the lot of the homeless mentally ill.

ASHADEEP started in 1996 in response to the lack of facilities for psychiatric rehabilitation in Assam. It began its work with homeless mentally ill women in 2005., rescuing forty three women off the streets in the first year. Till July 2022, 745 out of 777 such women brought off the streets of Guwahati by Ashadeep have been reunited with their families, some in states as distant as Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

“Hidden in Full View” presents the stories of some of those women The initial years were maelstrom of events, crowded with operations, stratagem, therapy, remedy, counsel, searches and excursions both pleasant and strange. But as Ashadeep gains experience in pre and post rescue methods, the number of failures fall, facilities improve and support – official and otherwise – grows, making work easier.

Every rescue has come with its own surprises; each woman’s story is a moving one in its own right. And the mission goes on ……