The Department of Psychiatric Social Work at IMHANS started functioning as a fledged department in 2014. The faculties include two Assistant Professors and two Psychiatric Social Workers. The faculties are part of the multi-disciplinary team of the institute and work in different units, including adult psychiatry, child development services, family therapy, community extension clinics, de-addiction services etc.
The admission to the third batch of M.Phil PSW is in progress. IMHANS is the pioneer institute under the government sector in Kerala and the second institute in South India to start the M Phil course in Psychiatric Social work during the academic year 2014-16. It is a two-year full-time course characterised by supervised intensive clinical training in psychiatric social work. The system is affiliated with the Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS), with an intake of 8 students per year. During the course, the students get exposure to and experience in adult psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, community psychiatry, de-addiction, psychotherapy, family therapy, behaviour therapy, neurology and neurosurgery units of IMHANS and other Medical Colleges/ Bangalore NIMHANS.
The department undertakes different research activities each year in which various psychosocial aspects of mental illnesses are being studied extensively by the students and supervised by experienced faculties.