Mangalore: A prominent community leader and social worker, Vivek Vincent Pais of Dharmasthala was awarded “Person of the Year 2021” by a Civic Forum in Mangalore.
The award was presented to Mr Vivek Vincent Pais on 18 December 2021 by the Linking Friends Club and the Ecolink Institute of Well-being in honour of his outstanding achievements in the field of De-addiction and Rehabilitation, Disaster management, Rural development, community mobilization and leadership.
As the Director of the Dharmasthala De-addiction Project, he has developed one of the largest community-based de-addiction programs in the world, with over 1400 community camps and a continuum of care with thousands of recovering people.
Mr Vivek Vincent Pais started his career as a social worker and youth Development Officer at Link De-addiction Center in the mid-Nineties and developed the community camps in collaboration with the Dharmasthala with the guidance of Dr Thomas Scaria, the then Director of the Link Center.
Joining the Dharmasthala team thereafter, Vivek Pais developed the community based de-addiction camps as a model project under the guidance of Shree Veerendra Heggade, the Head of Dharmasthala and Dr L.H.Manjunath, Director of SKDRDP.
He is currently the Regional Director, Janajagruthi Regional Office, Director, Shree Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara De-Addiction and Research Centre, Ujire and Secretory, Akhila Karnataka Janajagruthi Vedike Trust, Belthangady.
Vivek Pais, who is also a prominent Catholic leader in the Madanthyar Church has conducted more than 1,475 community-based De-addiction camps under the Dharmasthala program and motivated more than 1.25 addicts towards a healthy life. He has trained more than 1,028 teachers for the “ Swastha Sankalpa ” student awareness campaign throughout the state of Karnataka.
As a resource person, Mr Vivek Vincent Pais has presented seminars for more than 400 religious leaders more than 10,000 volunteers to promote an addiction-free society across the state. He authored two books titled “Madya Varjana Shibira Samhite” and “Avalokana” and provided concepts for 3 short films in the addiction field.
He has conducted more than 200 programs a year as a resource person to create addiction awareness among youth and society and a regular resource person to the State Temperance Board.
On the occasion of the 1000th de-addiction camp of Akhila Karnataka Janajagruti Vedhike, he has simultaneously conducted 10 camps and treated 1400 alcoholics.
He is one of the internationally certified addiction Counsellors under the Colombo Plan’s Universal Treatment Curriculum imparted by the Ecolink Institute and a member of the International Society for Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP).
Vivek Vincent Pais was also awarded the “Karnataka Rajyotsava Award” recently by the Mangalore District Administration.
