By Fr Godfrey D’Sa and Ms Ratandeep Chawla for BISMumbai

Prafulta - Centre for Psychological Wellness, celebrated its silver jubilee on 14 September 2023 at its centre in Andheri. Present for the occasion was Fr Savio Silveira - Provincial of the Salesian Province of Bombay, Fr Francisco Pereira - the Rector, Fr Godfrey D’Sa - Founder and Director of Prafulta; and other founding members: Fr Adolph Furtado, Dr Kersi Chavda, and Ms Mimansa Popat. Prafulta has completed 25 years since its inception on 8 September 1998. 

Prafulta is a multidisciplinary mental health centre with various services like psychiatry, psychotherapy, vocational guidance, occupational therapy, assessments, special needs programmes, and several outreach endeavours. The Centre also conducts several training programmes for professionals, teachers, parents, youth and students. Its vision is to provide quality psychological and psychiatric services, chiefly for children and youth, and to build an emotionally healthy society by empowering people to live life in abundance.

The celebrations involved games, entertainment and prizes to celebrate the occasion. After lunch, Fr D’Sa introduced the Chief Guest and guests of honour. Ms Popat and Ms Shalu Mehrotra, who have been with Prafulta since the beginning, shared nostalgic experiences of the growth and massive outreach of Prafulta over the years. Fr D’Sa concluded by saying that all was possible only because of the enthusiasm and commitment of the staff to reach out and help people in need. He added that his proudest moment was the visit of the Rector Major in 2018. The Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, congratulated Prafulta and said that there was no other centre in the Salesian World with such a large group of professionals offering so varied services. 

The Provincial, Fr Silveira, congratulated Prafulta on the occasion of its jubilee. He recalled the many programmes like the Mental Health Conference, Mental Health Hike, and Healthy Mind Camps that Prafulta organised to commemorate this special event. He was especially pleased with Prafulta's reaching out to the poor and marginalised in the bastis and villages, and he commended Prafulta for the support it gave to disaster-stricken people: the victims of the landslide at Mahad, the victims of the train accident in Balasore, and those affected by the violence in Manipur. He implored God’s blessings on the members of this organisation so that they may continue the wonderful work they are doing and reach out to many more in need. 

The programme ended with the Provincial distributing personalised mementos to each of the staff members.