Lily, a petite, pleasant young woman, enjoys life by the sea, in a village close to Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu. On closer observation, Lily may seem somewhat different from others around her; there is a visible social awkwardness. Her clinical diagnosis of intellectual disability and psychosis typically indicates an inhibited capacity to engage in usual tasks, socialise as others may and sustain meaningful relationships and conversations. She doesn’t speak much of her birth family or her past and has largely lived in an institute that provides mental health care. For the five-year period that we have known her at The Banyan, she has seemed to be content with her life but constrained by space, self-perceived boundaries and the lack of stimulating experiences to help advance her personal recovery. Her conversations have mostly remained the same, ‘Can we go to a movie’? ‘Shall we go to the beach’? There have been few other utterances.