title: Promoting wellbeing and improving access to mental health care through community champions in rural India: theAtmiyataintervention approach.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are limited accounts of community-based interventions for reducing distress or providing support for people with common mental disorders (CMDs) in low and middle-income countries. The recently implementedAtmiyataprogramme is one such community-based mental health intervention focused on promoting wellness and reducing distress through community volunteers in a rural area in the state of Maharashtra, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  This case study describes the content and the process of implementation ofAtmiyataand how community volunteers were trained to becomeAtmiyatachampions and mitras (friends). TheAtmiyataprogramme trained Atmiyata champions to provide support and basic counselling to community members with common mental health disorders, facilitate access to mental health care and social benefits, improve community awareness of mental health issues, and to promote well-being. Challenges to implementation included logistical challenges (difficult terrain and weather conditions at the implementation site), content-related challenges (securing social welfare benefits for people with CMDs), and partnership challenges (turnover of public health workers involved in referral chain, resistance from public sector mental health specialists).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The case study serves as an example for how such a model can be sustained over time at low cost. The next steps of the programme include evaluation of the impact of theAtmiyataintervention through a pre-post study and adapting the intervention for further scale-up in other settings in India.
authors.affiliation: Trimbos International Department, Trimbos Institute , Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shields-Zeeman
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, Indian Law Society, Pune, India.
authors.forename: Soumitra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pathare
authors.affiliation: Trimbos International Department, Trimbos Institute , Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bethany Hipple
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, Indian Law Society, Pune, India.
authors.forename: Nandita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kapadia-Kundu
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, Indian Law Society, Pune, India.
authors.forename: Kaustubh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Joag
keywords: Community mental health; Community-based intervention; Evidence-based intervention; India; Low and middle-income country; Mhealth