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Founders Of Nithya Saadhana

Hema Nataraj – Managing Trustee

The Managing Trustee of Nithya Saadhana, Hema Nataraj is a veteran of two decades in the field of Special Education. A Commerce graduate, Hema also studied Mental Health from Kuvempu University. Having observed children with multiple disabilities, Hema Nataraj engaged with them through various activities and training. This made many children and youth to be confident and lead life as independently as was possible in their respective circumstances.

More importantly, Hema’s efforts, combined with her persistence and positive attitude, has, and is kindling a new sense of hope among parents whose children are living with multiple disabilities, and IDD (Intellectual Development Disorder) in particular. She is creating space in a society for youth living with IDD through training and also mentoring special educators, which is helping to reach out to an increasing base of beneficiaries.

Along with the founder members and team members of Nithya Saadana, Hema Nataraj is transforming not just lives but also a mind-set of people. The organization’s work and students are getting recognized officially by many reputed mental health organizations and Government bodies. Her vision and commitment, which are the values being imbibed by the team, has led to key stakeholders coming forward to support Nithya Saadhana, which is facilitating the process of training and mainstreaming persons with IDD.

She has conducted the community living program NS-CLOVE for three years successfully, where the trainees live by themselves and learn independent living skills.

Beena Krishnamurthy – Founder Member and Trustee

One would have thought that Beena Krishnamurthy, a gold medalist in MSc (Physics) and a teacher of the subject would have gone on to mentor students to discover Dr. Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, in themselves. But she went on to do something that was equally if not more significant. After acquiring a degree in special education and a diploma in mental health, she trained children with special needs to appear for the National Institute of Open School’s Secondary and Senior Secondary examination.

Having understood the abilities and aptitude of the trainees, Beena’s specially designed curriculum, documentation and quality checks, has laid the systems and processes that were much needed to streamline the activities of the organization, and steer its progress towards its objective and goals.

She has designed and conducted a Diploma “Be a Job Coach” as project NS-VISTA for training job coaches. This is a specialized course for special educators who will become equipped to train & place persons with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities.

Along with the team members, Beena is working towards not just training and mainstreaming youth with IDD (Intellectual Developmental Disorder) but also enabling them to live life with dignity by being self-reliant to the extent it is possible

Our Team

We have young and enthusiastic trainers who are very dedicated and involve themselves completely with innovative ideas. They take care of the overall development of the trainee in areas of electronics, data entry and also in the confidence building of the trainees and their families. The trainers do “hand holding” to the trainee when he / she gets a placement in the mainstream by making regular visits to the company till both the employer and the trainee are comfortable.

Pushpa Shankar

A BSc graduate, Pushpa has been associated with Nithya Saadhana since 2012. Under her training, more than 25 have learnt the basics of cooking and hospitality practices that are required to attend to customers at restaurants.

There is more to Pushpa than teaching students to hold the knife, chopping vegetables and using the gas. Her patience and persistence while teaching infuses confidence in the students, and motivates them to learn and apply themselves.

“It makes me feel content to be able to teach and train differently abled young adults in hospitality and soft skills. They learn so quickly and easily with great enthusiasm. I thank the founder of Nithya Saadhana for giving me opportunity to work as well to learn more and more”

Chandrakala

An assistant teacher of English and Mathematics for students from 5th to 8th for 17 years came in good stead for Chandrakala when she began to teach children with special needs at Nithya Saadhana.

Associated with the organization for many years, she teaches youth with IDD (Intellectual Development Disorder) about cable work like wire cutting of given measurements, pencil marking, cutting marking, stripping, crimping and core winding of different wires. These skills are useful for companies engaged in electronic sub assembly.

At the same time, Chandrakala also teaches them to make gift envelopes and newspaper bags, which indicates her versatility as a trainer.

“I enjoy guiding the trainees who are all eager learners.”

Madhuri

Madhuri is with Nithya Saadhana for more than five years. She takes care of the training unit. Her systematic methods and disciplined approach to the training helps the new admissions to understand the required processes and the culture of our training. The pre vocational skills and the steps for the different sections, be it electronics, paper covers or gift envelopes are followed and explained in simple steps to the trainees by her. She is also good in documenting the progress of each trainee.

Sandhya

Sandhya is liked by all the trainees because of her patient and practical approach. She makes sure all the trainees get an opportunity to learn the processes at the training centre. She is good in interacting with the parents and keeping track of the production targets for the trainees, whether classes are physical or online. She updates the admission register and also regularly reports the progress of the enrolled trainees to the government agencies. Sandhya has been with Nithya Saadhana for more than five years.

Beeresh P B

Beeresh who is an MPhil in Engineering is a quiet and composed instructor. He is an asset to Nithya Saadhana as the head of the production unit. He guides the trainees in PCB manufacture, transformer core winding and also takes care that the testing process goes on smoothly. Beeresh coordinates all the production and time lines for the sheltered unit, which is a launch pad for the trainees to get placed in the main stream. He also assists in the placements and is a dedicated Job Coach. As part of the administrative responsibility he keeps the accounts perfectly updated.

Shruthi

Shruthi who is an Electronics and Communication Engineering joined Nithya Saadhana in February 2021. She settled in very quickly and trains students in Data Entry and also PCB manufacture and wire harnessing. She completed her online training to understand the Role of a Job Coach while working with adults with IDD. She is dedicated to make all the trainees reach their best potential and trains them to become skilled and confident to be as independent as possible. She also coordinates with the rest of the team and documents the progress of each trainee meticulously.

Nithya Saadhana’s association with VRC for certification

For persons with disabilities, being able to earn helps them to be as financially self-reliant as possible. Not only does it improve their sense of self-worth but reduces the burden of financial expenses for their care takers and changes the mind-set of the society. It is also a key indicator of social and professional mainstreaming.

By setting up Vocational Rehabilitation Centres (now NSCS), the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, is facilitating the process of assessing the vocational and psychological needs of the handicapped persons and rendering rehabilitation assistance to them.

One of the services rendered to the persons with disabilities by the VRCs is imparting non formal in-plant training (BASIC) and tailor made community based vocational training (CBVT) to Persons with Disabilities for skill building and making them employable.

The program at NITHYA SAADHANA is certified for conducting the in-plant as well as the CBVT training program. Batches of 8-10 trainees are registered each time with VRC. The supervisors of VRC visit us regularly to record the progress. At the end of the program, those trainees who have successfully completed the course are awarded certificates which confirm the affiliation with VRC. This makes the trainees eligible for the reservation in government jobs.

We put all efforts to tie-up with VRC and we make sure that as many trainees who are eligible for a government certificate, are provided with one. More than 15 batches of students have got a certificate from VRC since 2011.

Nithya Saadhana’s collaboration with NIMHANS

According to the specialists from the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation at NIMHANS, besides active treatment of the clients with mental illnesses or Intellectual Developmental Disorder, there is need to reintegrate them into the social mainstream. The focus on recovery-oriented practices and services are as important if not more, for the clients and their family members.

Over the years, emphasis in psychiatric rehabilitation has shifted from “just keeping patients occupied” to “recovery for community reintegration”. Hence, their services are called as “Recovery Oriented Services (ROSeS)”. The aim of the team is to provide services beyond recovery from symptoms of psychiatric disorder.

NITHYA SAADHANA is one of the collaborating NGOs with NIMHANS for training adults with mental challenges.