Global Mental Health Initiatives gmhi

I am delighted to announce the founding of Global Mental Health Initiatives.

Global Mental Health Initiatives (GMHI) is a U.S based not-for-profit organization specializing in mitigating mental illness in poor communities by responding to local demands for psycho-social, mental health and allied health resources.

 

GMHI achieves its goals by:

·               Identifying areas of need;

·               Engaging local and national stake-holders;

·               Adapting initiatives to the enabling environment at a local and national level;

·               Dialoguing with end users, indigenous healers and community leaders;

·               Researching, developing and delivering appropriate packages of care.

 

GMHI is committed to:

 

·      Capacity-building in poor and indigenous communities in the U.S and abroad by task-shifting mental health and allied services;

·       Using low-cost participatory action methods to develop sustainable, replicable and                 locally staffed practices; 

·               Incorporating local cultural narratives as they describe and define mental illness,                  health and wellness to maximize take-up and impact of services.                                                                                                       

 

GMHI's current engagements include: A Key Informant Study and Community Readiness Survey in the Village of Kalenga, Iringa District, Tanzania, to Determine Awareness and Attitudes Toward Suicide.

In furtherance of this project GMHI has formed a team comprised of academics from both U.S and Tanzania and partnered with the Government of Tanzania's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse and the Tanzania Users and Survivors of Psychiatry Organization. The survey will act as a pilot study and assist GMHI and its partners to:

·               Maximize take-up, effectiveness and sustainability of future services;

·               Map the cultural context of suicide in Kalenga and the surrounding area;

·               Examine the role of cultural narratives in the success of Public Health interventions.

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