Serious Mental Illness is a challenging problem in low income countries. On a global basis, 450 million people suffer from mental illnesses. In low income countries the number of people without access to mental health services runs between 70% and 90%. Access to community services for people with illnesses and their family caregivers is even more limited. Daily 3000 people across the world commit suicide; unipolar depression is the major cause of suicide (World Health Organization). More people die annually from suicide then all the world's wars combined. Family suffering is tremendous. Proven models include peer and family education and support programs. Mental Health International partners with ACISAM (the Association for Training and Research in Mental Health) in El Salvador to provide programs of education, support, empowerment and income generation for persons with mental illness and their family caregivers. 12 years running, this program has provided hundreds people a variety of benefits, such as reduced conflict across the family, support needed to work, participation in the national round table on disability rights to advocate against stigma and discrimination, increased ability to maintain friendships, improved sense of empowerment (Nickels, Flamenco, and Rojas, 2013, unpublished data). Our current goals:
To expand the program throughout the countryside of El Salvador to provide access to mental health services where the treatment gap is very high, to partner with other NGOs to provide a variety of income and community based services, and to form a collaboration with the ministry to health to provide services and support the program with evaluation and research.The goal is to reach a large proportion of the 200,000 people who currently do not have access to mental health services, as well as the many family members and caregivers who provide support to their loved ones. To expand this model of work to other Central American countries, supporting the development of user and family groups, strengthening their capacity, and tying them together in a network of support and advocacy to improve the human rights of those with serious mental disorders across the region. The idea is to strengthen the grassroots advocacy movement in order to bring about systemic change. To create a research collaborative that supports the above efforts and engages stakeholders in new ways to identify needs, improve services by integrating best practices with current programs, and carry out research important to the population in the low resource country to El Salvador. For more details, to setup monthly giving, to travel with us to Central America to see our programs, or to volunteer with our programs in the U.S. or Central America, please contact our director, Sam Nickels at samnickels @ chhd . To donate with a credit card, click the donate button on our home page; to send a check, write it to CHHD, put MHI in the memo line and send it to CHHD at 340 Maryland Avenue, Harrisonburg VA 22801. Thanks!
