Learning Zone - Ghana mental health research

Assessment of mental health policy in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia: Faydi et al.  Health Research Policy and Systems 2011, 9:17

Our latest summary is interesting but quite ‘high level’.  The next summary will be topical and rather 'lighter' again. 

We cover an assessment the mental health policies of Ghana, South Africa, Uganda. 

We’re all stakeholders in the mental health system and should be willing to be get involved with developing policies however, we're not experts on producing policies so we might need training.  In fact when the new Mental Health Act implementation comes on each Region and District will require mental health leads so some of you might need expertise in this sooner than you were expecting.

As you will see, the country policies inspected in this survey could have been better.  It’s in our hands to help improve this for the future

You can read the full summary here

UK Anglican Church building friendships and talking about mental health in Ghana

The Kintampo Project isn't the only example of a strong partnership between the UK and Ghana that can help in the area of mental health.

The Anglican Churches of both countries are also committed to building bonds of friendship, sharing knowledge and helping others.

The Anglican Bishop of Portsmouth, UK, is strengthening this relationship by visiting Ghana from 19 April to 1 May - his second visit in as many years. The Rt Rev Christopher Foster and his colleagues are calling in on many Dioceses across the country, a trip covering some 1,500miles.

But the bishop is also a great supporter of the Kintampo Project, and has promised to raise the issue of mental health with the Ghanaian Clergy that he meets. Many people with a mental illness rely on the church for support, so it's crucial that we work together to better understand mental health, and how to signpost people to our mental health workers.

The bishop's visit also takes in the College of Health in Kintampo, where our new community mental health workers are being trained.

Dr Mark Roberts, the UK lead for the Kintampo Project said “We welcome the bishop’s work in Ghana to gain an understanding of mental health from the perspective of the Ghanaian clergy. Forging strong relationships between health workers and the clergy is key to reaching and supporting people with mental illness, and the Portsmouth delegation’s work will be a big step towards achieving this.”

Learn more about the visit on the Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth website.

Meet George Kunyangna

George Kunyagna, Clinical Psychiatric Officer

George Kunyangna graduating in Kintampo‘I hope we can get more people interested in mental health in Ghana. In the future I hope there are some other programmes so that I’m able to specialise to benefit people here.’

Witnessing the distress of a homeless man near his workplace every day, George Kunyangna began to feel a bitter anger over the lack of care offered to him.

No one intervened to help the anonymous vagrant, who appeared mentally unwell in the grounds of George’s workplace at Goaso.

Click to read more ...

Developing the Kintampo Psychosocial Centre

Ellie Jones is an OT by background and she’s flying to Ghana for 2 months with 2 colleagues, Dr Gwyn Grout and Jo Grout to help at the Kintampo Psychosocial Centre.

 ….This will be a fantastic development opportunity for me and I hope my contribution in Kintampo will, in its small way, add to the bigger picture for mental health

I was first introduced to the Kintampo project in 2012 when I ran a workshop, for five Ghanaian mental health workers visiting Southern Health NHS Trust.  I was surprised to hear that my profession, occupational therapy, is not represented in Ghana, with the visiting practitioners who were mostly registered mental nurses taking on roles and responsibilities outside their profession in order to help back at home. I was in awe of their dedication to provide the best possible care for their clients.

When the exciting opportunity came up to spend two months in Ghana, through a placement with the Consultant Practitioner Trainee Programme, I leapt at the chance to further my work with the Kintampo project and see its inspiring work first hand.

 I’ll be working with lead mental health educators in Kintampo to help them prepare for a visit they’ll be making to Southern Health, UK in June-August 2013 to develop further as educators and clinicians.  I’ll be helping them get the most they can from their UK experience by identifying their individual development needs whilst they’re still in Ghana.  Part of my time will also be to support the development of a Project Implementation Document for the Kintampo Psychosocial Centre for it to become a Centre of Excellence for education for the Kintampo CMHO and CPO programmes.

I’ll provide education sessions on the recovery approach and the role of occupation and meaningful activities in achieving good mental health.  In the UK, these key interventions focus on principles of inclusion, client expertise and sense of self apart from illness, all of which fit well with the Kintampo Projects aims and values.

This will be a fantastic development opportunity for me and I hope my contribution in Kintampo will, in its small way, add to the bigger picture for mental health. Being my first trip to Africa this will be a huge learning curve for me. I am so thankful to have this opportunity to experience a new culture and make my contribution to the Kintampo Project.

Read more about The Kintampo Psychosocial Centre here

Meet Felix Ntim Badu

Felix Ntim Badu, Community Mental Health Officer 

'Patients are glad they can be treated, where they couldn’t be before.’

Felix Ntim Badu began his education into those who experience mental health problems early in life – as he left the school gates every day.

Attending Junior High School inside the gates of Ghana’s 500 bed Pantang Hospital he would regularly pass by patients.

He soon learnt they were not the dangerous individuals portrayed by others, instead developing a life-long fascination in psychiatry.

And so when years later he learnt of the mental health careers offered by the Kintampo project, he felt it was too good an opportunity to turn down.

Felix now works in a district hospital in the vast rural district of Sefwi-Wiawso in the Western Region of Ghana, covering a population of about 108,000 people and often travelling 70km to see clients. 

Read more ....

The Learning Zone - Emerging mental health research from Ghana

Epidemiologic Characteristics of Suicidal Behaviour in Contemporary Ghana. Mensah Adinkrah. Crisis 2011: Vol.32(1):31-36

Suicidal behaviour is a crime in Ghana and if unsuccessful it can result in arrest, prosecution and criminal penalties.

In contrast, support and help is offered to an individual who has attempted suicide and failed in the United Kingdom.

Dr Mensah Adinkrah, Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Central Michigan University, USA, explored the characteristics of individuals who committed suicide in Ghana by looking at all cases of suicide recorded on the police database between 2006- 2008.

We have made a short summary of the article here if you would like a quick review.  Our summary will be of interest to all readers, Ghanaian, African and worldwide.  

The full article can be downloaded from: http://www.psycontent.com/content/d6642grn63254834/  but it's not free and it can't be accessed from Africa via Hinari either.  If you would like to try asking the publishers if they would let you have a free copy you could try via their email address customerservice@hogrefe.com 

To get widest coverage for mental health workers and students in Ghana we're also posting this on our Facebook, tweeting it and sending a link by SMS to over 250 of our CMHO and CPO's.

Volunteering with The Kintampo Project

"I hope that by volunteering with the Kintampo Project, I can take a small part in a much wider reform of mental health services in Ghana."

Meet Naureen, a new Kintampo Project Volunteer from the UK...

Click to read more ...

The Learning Zone - Emerging mental health research from Ghana

''I want the one that will heal me completely so it won't come back again'': The limits of antipsychotic medication in rural Ghana by Dr Ursula Read

This scholarly and very interesting article was published by Dr Ursula Read in Transcultural Psychiatry: July/September 2012 vol. 49 no. 3-4 pp 438-460.

We have made a short summary of the article here for anyone who would like a quick review, we certainly recommend it, the paper is a real insight. 

A free online full pdf of the article can be found at: http://tps.sagepub.com/content/49/3-4/438  

To get widest coverage for mental health workers and students in Ghana we've also posted this on our Facebook, tweeted it and sent a link by SMS to over 250 of our CMHO and CPO's.

Meet Yvonne Ka-Chungu

Yvonne Ka-Chungu, Community Mental Health Officer

‘When I am able to help people, I feel satisfied about this, as I feel that my efforts have not been in vain.’

Most mental health professionals would be concerned if their psychotic patients turned up on their own doorstep – but for Yvonne Ka-Chungu, it is just part of the job.

The conscientious mother-of-one will even on occasion buy expensive anti-psychotic medication for her desperate patients.

Despite not even having her own office, she is fast becoming an invaluable presence for fellow health professionals encountering a whole range of mental health problems in Tamale, northern Ghana.

Yvonne, 41, said: ‘Sometimes the drugs are too expensive for some patients, but they are still needed, read more .............

CPD update

Drug abuse in Accra

We have prepared a short summary of the scholarly article: Socio-demographic Characteristics of Substance Abusers Admitted to a Private Specialist Clinic, by JJ Lamptey.  Ghana Med J. 2005 March; 39(1): 2–7. 

Since time immemorial people have eased themselves of the stresses of daily life by using drugs, herbs and potions but at what cost ….and who become the addicts ?     Read more 

Kintampo Project awarded two new grants for 2013

In the last few days it's been confirmed that we've been successful in applying for two grants to support our work in developing Ghana's mental health workforce.

We'll share more details of our plans for these grants soon, but for now here's a quick description of how they'll be used:

Grant 1 - from the Commonwealth Fellowship Scheme - will support five key new educators based at the Kintampo Psychosocial Centre, including two Community Mental Health Officers and one Clinical Psychiatric Officer to improve their teaching skills. They will each spend two months at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust in the UK, undertaking personal and professional development to act as catalysts for developing the long term sustainability of mental health services in Ghana.

Grant 2 – from the UK Health Partnership Scheme –  will focus on setting up and carrying out professional development and 'masterclass' workshops in Ghana for CMHO and CPO. The first batch of 72 CMHO who graduated Sept 2011 will have their workshops in 2013 and the second batch of over 100 CMHO who graduated in 2012 will have their workshops in 2014.  The workshops will not only provide direct professional development but they will establish a culture of ongoing development for the new workforce.

Ghana's new Mental Health Act: A brief guide

See the new Mental Health Act here

One of the major milestones for Ghana’s mental health system in 2012 was the passing of the Mental Health Act. Much more than a piece of law governing detention of the mentally ill, the Act sets out to re-focus the way mental health services are provided, from an ‘institutional’ model to a more community-based approach, and also aims to combat stigma and discrimination against mentally ill people which is as rife in Ghana as elsewhere.

Click to read more ...

Meet Josephine Osei

Community Mental Health Officer

"I want to help those in the community, help with education of mental health. Mental health is neglected, that’s why I chose to do it, that’s why it excites me."

Determined Josephine Osei was not going to let taunts from friends and a mother’s worries stop her dream of improving the life chances of the mentally unwell in her homeland.

The stigma of a mental health problem remains strong in Ghana, with even her mother concerned she could be subjected to violent attack.

Josie, as she is known, also had to endure teasing from friends, who said she would become ‘abodamfo’ (mad) due to her still-unusual career choice......  read more

Local mental health services and on-the-job training: The Psycho-Social Centre

The Kintampo Project has recently helped to fund the construction of occupational therapy facilities, teaching rooms and a crèche at the Psycho Social centre in Kintampo.

Helping around 30 patients a week, the Centre is a local hub for mental health services and provides walk-in and appointment-based clinics for people across the Kintampo District.

But the Centre has a dual role. As well as providing vital health services, it is also located in the grounds of the College of Health, where our students are trained. This means that the Centre is used to provide practical training for our Community Mental Health Officers and Community Psychiatric Officers, right on their doorstep. Before the Centre was built, students would have to travel many miles to reach the nearest mental health clinics.

The Psycho-Social centre is now fully staffed and the additional facilities makes it even more effective at improving the mental health of local people, and providing practical skills and experience for our students.

Learn more about the College of Health

Kintampo Project doubles intake of new students after high demand

The popularity of the Project’s Community Mental Health Officer (CMHO) course has exceeded our expectations.

We had planned to take on 50 new students each year, but we have had to increase this to 100 following an overwhelming number of talented applicants. In total, over 600 people approached us this year. This is wonderful as it shows the interest in mental health services and that people really see a career in mental health as a positive thing.

The Kintampo Project has already trained around 180 CMHOs and this is our third intake. We now have qualified mental health workers in all of Ghana's 10 regions.

We welcome our new students and wish them all the best in their studies!

Find out more about our Community Mental Health Officers

Major milestone is reached as nearly 200 newly qualified mental health workers graduate

After five years of international collaboration, sustainable development and education, the Kintampo Project is thrilled to announce the graduation of 180 new mental health workers from the College of Health in Kintampo.

Since 2007, the Kintampo Project has been developing new training programmes and supporting the education of a new generation of mental health workers. The new graduates are now providing vital services in poor and rural communities across the whole of Ghana.

This is a huge step forward in achieving our goal of a sustainable nationwide community mental health workforce in Ghana, and our aim of decongesting overcrowded psychiatric hospitals.

The Kintampo Project is now entering a new phase: ‘the end of the beginning’ where we will need to keep up the momentum and continue to train new workers, but also offer the crucial support and professional development to our new graduates. Funds are needed now more than ever – so please think about supporting our work with a generous donation!

We wish our new graduates the very best in their new mental health careers, bringing much-needed services to thousands of people in Ghana with a mental illness.

Learn more about the Kintampo Project, and find out how you can support our work

CPD for Mental Health Practitioners

We have a short summary of a research paper published by Dr Angela Ofori-Atta and colleagues in 2010.  We hope you find it useful.  Follow this link to read our summary.

The paper is: Ofori-Atta, A., et al (2010). Common understandings of women’s mental illness in Ghana: results from a qualitative study. International Review of Psychiatry, 22(6): 589–598

Kintampo exam success

The Kintampo Project recently celebrated exam success as around 100 students from the second intake of the project completed their final exams. Following one year of training to receive their diploma the Community Mental Health Officers (CMHO) will be taking up posts providing vital support to those with mental illness. Clinical Psychiatric Officers (CPO) have completed two years of training to receive their degree, and will now work at the Accra and Cape Coast Psychiatric Hospitals for three months gaining extra valuable experience before moving to lead selected regional mental health services in Ghana. We wish them all the best for their future ventures and work, and thank them for being a vital part of the Kintampo Project.

Read more about the degree and diploma programmes on our courses pages

Latest news on Mental Health Act

Dr Akwasi Osei, Chief Psychiatrist of GhanaA brief summary;

 2^nd March 2012 - Mental Health Bill passed by Parliament

31^st May 2012 - Mental Health Act received Presidential Assent

8^th June 2012 – MHA ‘gazetted’ (recorded in the official governmental  Ghana  gazette)

Next – develop the ‘LI’ (Legislative Instrument) – a more detailed operational MHA.  A group is now working on this

And – develop the organogram and role responsibilities within the Mental Health Authority (completed) 

And - President to appoint the Mental Health Board (coming soon)

Then – Mental Health Board to present the ‘LI’ to parliament 

Question:  Can we see a copy of The Mental Health Act ? 

Answer:  Yes, it has now been officially printed and will be available to us all very shortly.

Read more ……… about drafting the bill since 2004 (see the document called 'Developing the Ghana Mental Health Act' in the 'misc' section at the bottom of the page you link to)

Educator development in wet and windy Hampshire

Lucy, Priscilla, Akosua and WalterJune 2012 saw The Kintampo Project welcome 4 MAP/CMHO lead mental health preceptors to 4 weeks of UK based clinical and educational leadership development in Hampshire.  The 4, Lawrence Nankuri Walter (Upper West), Akosua Serwaah Bonsu (Eastern), Lucy Dadze (Western) and Priscilla Elikplim Tawiah (Volta) arrived to meet cool wet and windy weather following what had been an early UK heat wave in May.  

Undeterred, they threw themselves into a packed timetable of visits and meetings throughout Southern Health mental health and learning disability services. They spent time in Supportive Outreach, Forensic Psychiatry, medical student seminars and shadowed staff in many different roles. Personal reflective practice and observation of supervision methods featured throughout.

Lawrence Nankuri Walter said: “Our visit to the UK has been a real success. It’s had a big impact and given us a more focused direction. We have been able to acquire knowledge and teaching skills on other areas of mental health services which we can take back to Ghana for the benefit of our colleagues and patients.”

The preceptors were full of praise for Southern Health mental health services. Akosua Serwaah Bonsu told us: “Our exposure here has really built our confidence to go back and mentor colleagues. We have learnt about effective leadership and many skills which we will be able to use. We have learnt about good clinical practice and will take many things from the service which we would like to implement back in Ghana.”

It’s great to hear that services in the UK are having such a positive impact so far afield.