The first LGBT support group consisting of eight weekly sessions starting from 2 February 2019 at The Space came to a successful conclusion. This event is the joint effort of Milin Dutta (Ex Director & Founder, Out in the Backyard, 3844 21st Ave S, Minneapolis MN 55407), in collaboration with Xukia and the Society for Mental Health in LAMIC (SoMHiL).

Bornali Das, the Secretary of the Society for Mental Health in LAMIC (SoMHiL) delivered a lecture on “Victim Counseling, Recording statement of victim, Issue related to medical examination of victim” with special focus on latest trend of cases which were beneficial for investigating officers of Assam Police. This training programme was organised by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Guwahati, Assam on “Women safety” at CID Hqr., Ulubari for the investigating officers in the rank of S.I. (UB) & Inspector (UB) of Various DEFs, Units, and Organisations of Assam Police.

The Secretary of the Society for Mental Health in LAMIC (SoMHiL), Bornali Das gave her inputs to develop the frame work to address the issue of mental health in the context of violence and conflict in a consultation to discuss the findings of a study “Brutal Past Shattered Present”, Psycho-social impact of protracted conflict and prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among individuals and communities in Assam at IIBM, Jawahar Nagar, Guwahati. FST and WinG-Assam documented 200 cases from 9 districts across Assam to understand the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders of individuals and communities impacted by conflicts. The participants in the study were all people affected by one or more conflicts in Assam in the last 40 years.

The Editor-in-Chief of the Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences (OJPAS®), Shyamanta Das co-chaired with Dr. Chiranjeeb Kakoty, Director, NE SPYM the session, “Substance use in children and response of NGOs” sharing of good practices of NE State in One Day Reginal Level Consultation on Drugs & Substance Use among Children in NE States organised by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in Collaboration with Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Foundation for Integrated Support and Solution at Assam Administrative Staff College, Khanapara, Guwahati.

Bornali Das, the Secretary of the Society for Mental Health in LAMIC (SoMHiL) delivered a talk on “Importance of Human Relationship in the context of Mental Health and the Role of a Professional Social Worker” on the occasion of the World Social Work Day, celebrated by the Dept. of Social Work, RSHSS, Royal Global University (RGU), Guwahati.

Mythili Hazarika, the President of the Society for Mental Health in LAMIC (SoMHiL) was invited as a guest speaker in “Abhigyan Xibir” at Jatiya Vidyalaya, Guwahati to enlighten the board examinees on psychosocial issues and life course perspectives to face the real world out of their comfort zone. They were quite enthusiastic and the interactive session was a learning experience as the concerns that they had raised about discipline issues, relationship conflicts, career choice, controlling emotions, and dealing with superstitions were quite challenging.