I really admire what you do at StrongMinds, and I really think that mental health is a theme that isn’t picked up on much but taking care of it can do a huge difference, like with what you do! This is really amazing work and it fills me with joy to see so many women getting access to the treatment they need to live happily (and the number that remains depression-free after getting treated, wow!). I have a few questions :)
How did you work during the pandemic? I imagine it wasn’t easy to do group psychotherapy in a context of social distancing and less interpersonal connections.
Have you noticed a difference between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic depression? My own personal impression—but I believe the mental health crisis we live in currently is, in part, because of a decay in interpersonal relationships. Is the treatment even more effective because once having the group therapy these women have the whole group as a support network?
As a person who has had depression, I know it is very difficult to ask for help at the beginning, how do you convince these women to access treatment? How taboo is talking about mental health in Uganda and Zambia? Are there cultural differences you considered when developing the program?
I an engineering undergrad living in Chile, where 1⁄4 of our population has mental health illnesses such as depression and anxiety and a really poor access to treatment. What advice would you give to someone who wants to work in this area? Do you know of other effective interventions in mental health, especially for students?
Thanks so much for your kind words and for following our work! I appreciate your comment about the incredible impact mental health can have. We’ve certainly seen it change women’s lives far beyond what we could have predicted, such as helping a woman’s children eat more meals a day or even helping individuals with HIV adhere to their antiretroviral treatments more regularly.
We completely switched to a teletherapy model during the COVID-19 lockdowns in Uganda and Zambia, which required a lot of creative thinking on a short timeline. This made it somewhat tricky to reach our target demographic since many women share a phone with their family or neighbors (and some don’t own a phone at all.) Fortunately, the depression-free rates were comparable to in-person group therapy, and some ultimately preferred the flexibility it offered. We usually work in communities, offering therapy directly where the women live to make access easy (our motto was often to diagnose on a doorstep, treat under a tree.) We had to reach new clients using things like radio ads, social media, and a mental health WhatsApp-based chatbot to help ensure resources were available as often as needed. You can read more about our key learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic here.
Like most in the mental health field, we saw a sharp increase in the need for services, particularly during the lockdowns. Unfortunately, since then, we have seen other climate-related humanitarian crises causing things like flooding and drought, undoubtedly worsening mental health conditions. Additionally, Uganda currently has some Ebola lockdowns in place, stressing already thinned health resources. StrongMinds has made ourselves available to support in these cases. We know mental health care is critical during high-stress times, and rates are only projected to increase in the coming decades. The good news, though, is, as you’ve eloquently stated, the interpersonal nature of group talk therapy enhances outcomes. We’ve seen that 72% of former clients we spoke to in Uganda were still in touch with their group mates. This extends years later in many cases.
Absolutely! I’ve often said that the hardest part of our job is finding depressed individuals and getting them into a group. Depression can make simply getting out of bed a challenge, so this can be tricky. The group model works well to help with this scenario, though, because group members can hold each other accountable and check in on each other. Uganda and Zambia still have many stigmas associated with mental health, so advocacy and psychoeducation are critical to our work in-country. You can read more about the complete therapy assessment process and how we work to educate about mental health here in this Psychology Today article by our talented Uganda Country Director/Clinician, Tina Ntulo.
Similarly, a small door-to-door study led by StrongMinds in Mukono District, Uganda, estimated that the prevalence of moderate to severe depression in adult women was about 20%. We also have about 85% of individuals with no access to other forms of treatment. IPT works particularly well in these settings and is currently a WHO-recommended first-line treatment for depression in low-resource settings. Other forms of community-based models using a rights-based approach are a great way to empower individuals to seek recovery and focus on the value of human rights within the mental health space.
Hi Sean!
I really admire what you do at StrongMinds, and I really think that mental health is a theme that isn’t picked up on much but taking care of it can do a huge difference, like with what you do! This is really amazing work and it fills me with joy to see so many women getting access to the treatment they need to live happily (and the number that remains depression-free after getting treated, wow!). I have a few questions :)
How did you work during the pandemic? I imagine it wasn’t easy to do group psychotherapy in a context of social distancing and less interpersonal connections.
Have you noticed a difference between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic depression? My own personal impression—but I believe the mental health crisis we live in currently is, in part, because of a decay in interpersonal relationships. Is the treatment even more effective because once having the group therapy these women have the whole group as a support network?
As a person who has had depression, I know it is very difficult to ask for help at the beginning, how do you convince these women to access treatment? How taboo is talking about mental health in Uganda and Zambia? Are there cultural differences you considered when developing the program?
I an engineering undergrad living in Chile, where 1⁄4 of our population has mental health illnesses such as depression and anxiety and a really poor access to treatment. What advice would you give to someone who wants to work in this area? Do you know of other effective interventions in mental health, especially for students?
Thanks so much for the AMA! :)
Thanks so much for your kind words and for following our work! I appreciate your comment about the incredible impact mental health can have. We’ve certainly seen it change women’s lives far beyond what we could have predicted, such as helping a woman’s children eat more meals a day or even helping individuals with HIV adhere to their antiretroviral treatments more regularly.
We completely switched to a teletherapy model during the COVID-19 lockdowns in Uganda and Zambia, which required a lot of creative thinking on a short timeline. This made it somewhat tricky to reach our target demographic since many women share a phone with their family or neighbors (and some don’t own a phone at all.) Fortunately, the depression-free rates were comparable to in-person group therapy, and some ultimately preferred the flexibility it offered. We usually work in communities, offering therapy directly where the women live to make access easy (our motto was often to diagnose on a doorstep, treat under a tree.) We had to reach new clients using things like radio ads, social media, and a mental health WhatsApp-based chatbot to help ensure resources were available as often as needed. You can read more about our key learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic here.
Like most in the mental health field, we saw a sharp increase in the need for services, particularly during the lockdowns. Unfortunately, since then, we have seen other climate-related humanitarian crises causing things like flooding and drought, undoubtedly worsening mental health conditions. Additionally, Uganda currently has some Ebola lockdowns in place, stressing already thinned health resources. StrongMinds has made ourselves available to support in these cases. We know mental health care is critical during high-stress times, and rates are only projected to increase in the coming decades. The good news, though, is, as you’ve eloquently stated, the interpersonal nature of group talk therapy enhances outcomes. We’ve seen that 72% of former clients we spoke to in Uganda were still in touch with their group mates. This extends years later in many cases.
Absolutely! I’ve often said that the hardest part of our job is finding depressed individuals and getting them into a group. Depression can make simply getting out of bed a challenge, so this can be tricky. The group model works well to help with this scenario, though, because group members can hold each other accountable and check in on each other. Uganda and Zambia still have many stigmas associated with mental health, so advocacy and psychoeducation are critical to our work in-country. You can read more about the complete therapy assessment process and how we work to educate about mental health here in this Psychology Today article by our talented Uganda Country Director/Clinician, Tina Ntulo.
Similarly, a small door-to-door study led by StrongMinds in Mukono District, Uganda, estimated that the prevalence of moderate to severe depression in adult women was about 20%. We also have about 85% of individuals with no access to other forms of treatment. IPT works particularly well in these settings and is currently a WHO-recommended first-line treatment for depression in low-resource settings. Other forms of community-based models using a rights-based approach are a great way to empower individuals to seek recovery and focus on the value of human rights within the mental health space.