People with mental illness and disabilities are among the world’s most vulnerable and least empowered groups. They often experience stigma and discrimination with limited access to treatment, rehabilitation and livelihood opportunities. Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) is the apt answer to these challenges. CBR is a strategy that helps improve access to rehabilitation services for people with such disabilities within their communities itself. It supports full participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities in the life of their communities. This approach actively focuses on families in addition to the client. Empowering families and providing culture specific and need based interventions are some of the key components of this strategy. It is cost-effective and is usually implemented to address the important barriers to timely and effective treatment- accessibility and availability.
