What have we done so far?

While today HEAL is only focused on prevention of CSA today, till 2018, we were engaged in verticals such as:

Advocacy

Public and policy advocacy was an indispensable part of HEAL’s work against child sexual abuse.

HEAL under The Foundation was a part of lobbying for the POCSO Act, 2012. The team was actively involved in the consultation process to draft the bill that grew into POCSO, which received the assent of the President on 19th June 2012. Our founder, Rahul Bose, represented our collective opinion over the need for a specialised, child-sensitive law to deal with cases of CSA on many relevant platforms.

HEAL was active on several working groups and national coalitions on reviewing elements of the POCSO Act and making mental health services in CSA cases easily accessible.

Public Awareness Events

In addition to workshops and training sessions, we have organized standee exhibitions on CSA awareness in various railway stations across Mumbai in 2009. We have organised two screenings of ‘Deliver Us from Evil’. for the general population, and once for mental health professionals. A screening of “The Good Boy” was also organised for mental health professionals and HEAL trainers.

Healing

We provided one-on-one individual counselling sessions to child and adult survivors of child sexual abuse. HEAL is mindful of the fact that survivors do not exist in isolation. The impact of the social environment that they live in is crucial. Therefore, we also worked towards making the client’s social environment favourable for healing. We worked towards helping survivors in their journey by their reducing distress and increasing resilient by providing them a non-judgmental and safe space.