April 2024 – Saint John of God

30 Years of Mental Health Services in Malawi

On 3^rd October 2023, Saint John of God Hospitaller Services organized an Open Day aimed at celebrating its 30 years of work in providing mental health services in Malawi. The event had over 50 high-level dignitaries from Government, partner organizations, international organisations, the private sector and the media. The theme of the event was: ‘Mental Health is a Universal Human right.’

The event began with remarks from our CEO, Dr Charles Masulani, followed by presentations from our Programs Manager (Mzuzu Service) Christopher Mhone who highlighted the History, Programs and Projects that Saint John of God Hospitaller Services has done and continues to pursue. Additionally, Dr Mwawi Ng’oma (Programs Manager Lilongwe Service) shared information about what the service is doing in mental health research by presenting maternal mental health interventions. After the two presentations, the dignitaries were given an opportunity to visit the pavilions, which showcased all the programs and projects that Saint John offers.

During the event, we had 12 pavilions displaying all our mental health and psychosocial services, which include our two mental hospitals, outpatient departments, psychosocial services which comprise our stress clinic, employee wells program and others. Furthermore, we also displayed pavilions of our early childhood development programs which include: the Portage project, Elvira Special Needs school, Umoza Children’s project, as well as other services like our College of Health Sciences, Institute of Vocational Training and JOG Enterprises and other projects supported by our partners Christian Blind Mission (CBM), Save the Children and KinderNotHilfe (KNH).

*Our Group CEO Conor McCarthy having a chat with some of our beneficiaries*

*Our CEO Dr Masulani and Guest of Honor Dr George Chinthope Mwale and other dignitaries at one of our pavilions*

The Open Day event was a success, and some of the immediate results were coverage by national media such as the Nation, Zodiak as well as an invitation to showcase our youth-focused programs of Umoza and Institute of Vocational Training at the UN Day. Additionally, there was a provision of basic counselling training at JTI Tobacco Company.

Cyclone Freddy

In March last year, Malawi experienced one of its worst disasters in history. According to the UN, over 625,000 families were displaced many being children and women, with a death toll of over 500 and over 500 people still missing. The Department of Disaster Affairs of Malawi (DoDMA) highlighted the need for “Mental Health and Psychosocial services to the affected areas, especially to the survivors, and frontline health workers, as there was no one providing these services. As a leading organisation in the provision of mental health services in Malawi, we answered the call and this led to our first humanitarian project with support from KinderNotHilfe Luxembourg

Cyclone Freddy hit 14 districts in Malawi but Blantyre and Mulanje were two of the worst hit districts and these are the two districts we are implementing our project. In Blantyre, our work is in the area of T/A Kapeni. T/A Kapeni area according to DoDMA reports registered 212 deaths of which 22 were children, 75 people still missing and over 4163 people displaced because of the Cyclone. In Mulanje, our work is in T/A Njema, which was one of the worst hit areas by the cyclone and we still have settlement camps the cyclone survivors. According to DoDMA reports, T/A Njema registered 151 deaths, 217 injuries and 147 still missing and 2095 households were displaced. When you visit these areas, the impact of the cyclone is quite vivid still to this day

*Impact of the cyclone in Blantyre (T/A Kapeni)*

As you can see there was a lot of trauma and pain that, many people experienced from the loss of life, loss of property and a lot more negative things that the cyclone had brought. Our project aims to improve psychological and mental wellness and psychosocial through training lay counsellors. This is to ensure that we empower the survivors and create sustainable support systems for the survivors. We also offered specialized training such as psychosocial first aid, basic counselling skills and Interpersonal therapy for groups.

We are also conducting mental health awareness sessions and advocacy sessions so that the survivors can know when they or people close to them need support, where they can get support but also deal with the stigma and discrimination on mental health.

*Our Project Coordinator having a chat with one of the survivors at Njema camp*

Broken Crayons Mental Health Event At Chipasula Secondary School

Saint John of God Hospitaller Services and Broken Crayons organized a mental health awareness event at Chipasula Secondary School. During the event, we reached over two thousand students on February 16th, 2024, and February 23rd, 2024. The event took place on these days to reach all the students since the school has two shifts, which alternate every week as morning and afternoon shifts.

*A crowd of students during the Mental Health Awareness Concert*

The event was held under the theme: “Regardless of whatever you are going through, you still have purpose and value, just like broken crayons still colour.” The program of the event consisted of mental health talks and music performances. The mental health talks were delivered by our Psychosocial Counsellor Auston Kayala and Nurse Charles Ndawala and the music performances by artists who are part of the Broken Crayons team. Mr Kayala gave a talk on the negative effects of drug and substance abuse and how to manage stress on both days. While Mr Ndawala gave a talk on understanding mental health and mental illnesses on February 16th. On the 23^rd of February, Mr Chikondi Matenda delivered a talk on understanding mental health and mental illnesses.

The main objective of this event was to promote mental health awareness, youth empowerment, and address crucial topics among students. Head Teacher of Chipasula Secondary School Mrs Ireen Kawale said, “She was impressed with the organisation of the event and issues regarding mental health and youth empowerment are very relevant to the students of Chipasula Secondary School.”