There is a sizeable population of those who are homeless and live on the streets in our country. A number of such people suffer from mental disorders. Some of them are on the streets because of their mental disorder while some have developed such disorders because of their homelessness. They are perhaps the most vulnerable group amongst the homeless. In addition to various risks that homeless people face - poor living conditions, infections, inaccessibility to basic health services, premature death and so on, the mentally ill, because of their affected condition, are not only shunned but also receive no support or sympathy of any kind. Studies have shown that homeless women with schizophrenia are sexually assaulted at an alarming rate, which exposes them to all kinds of deprivation and infections including the HIV virus.

The rehabilitation services of Ashadeep were initially limited to serving the mentally challenged individuals coming from families. 'Navachetana'- a home for homeless mentally ill women, started functioning from the middle of March 2005 in an attempt to rehabilitate the mentally affected homeless women lying on the streets of Guwahati, with the objective of re-integrating them with their families. Since the inception of Project ‘Navachetana', 357 women have been admitted of which, 318 have been reintegrated with their families till December, 2011. The experience of Navachetana has shown that between 65-70% of the rehabilitated women can be reintegrated with their families. 15-20% of them become functional, however, their families cannot be traced, and 10% of them are severely disabled, and hence, locating their families and reintegrating them is very difficult.