KRB Update 2147 Mental Health Training

KRB Update #2147 December 6, 2009 Mental Health Training
When one thinks of Mercy Ships, they do not always think of us having a mental health training program. During an assessment trip I made to Monrovia, Liberia in ’06 with Dr. Glenn Strauss, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare requested if there was any way we could assist with mental health training following the 14 years of civil war in Liberia.

After two years in Liberia with this program, we are now in Benin and have continued the training program but with adjustments for this culture and background. While Benin is not a post-conflict country, it still suffers from poverty and disease, and has an extremely high death rate which also leads to trauma. Few resources are allocated for mental health and illness, and there is a lack of understanding of mental health and illness among health care workers, church leaders, and other care givers.

The title of this project is ‘Restoring Hope – Addressing Mental Illness and Trauma’ and offers Whole Person care-Spirit,Body, Soul & Social. Dr. Lyn who serves at the office in Texas comes as our consultant. Here on board, Naomi leads the project and Gemma is a mental health nurse from England.
In my role as Programs Administrator for the Africa Mercy, I desire to be able to assist our various projects both on board and off the ship. I asked if they needed any assistance with the Mental Health Workshop for Parakou (a city 8 hours north of Cotonou) and the initial response was ‘no’, but then they came back and said they would request my assistance. For this workshop, we focused on church leaders, health care workers, social workers, teachers and Prison Fellowship/prison workers. I served in a support role – driving, handling the finances, assisting with registration of participants, helping with logistics, and setting up the areas for the afternoon smaller groups. During the main session on how to minister to children, I created a dog using Play-doh and shared a story about how my dog was sent away because he bite my neighbor. In the drama, I shared how losing my dog made me sad and how I missed him. We were demonstrating a way for children to share their feelings. Though, it was funny as during the drama, Naomi accidently hit my ‘dog’ and I fell to my knees and continued my story (see photo).
For the ’09 Field Service in Benin, the Mental Health team has worked with: 101 Health care workers; 119 Church and community leaders; 50 Children at a special camp; 220 participants at the Parakou Workshop and 50 Prison Fellowship/prison workers. Some of the feedback we received after the three day workshop was:
In the past, we only treated the body; now we ask about soul & spirit since they are interrelated; I started loving people with mental illnesses; When I balance my own mental health, I can better care for others;;I will reduce the number of patients I refer to a specialist/I understand that I can treat a person with a common mental illness; I started doing exercises on stress, and I assess the patients; I have a better understanding of myself and others; Better understanding of counseling in church, family & community; Perspectives changed; Improvement in my marriage; I can forgive; More self-assurance in listening and counseling
We will continue to offer this training for the ’10 Field Service in the nation of Togo.
Serving Together, Keith
Email: keith.brinkman@yahoo.com - using this email account for personal correspondencehttp://www.keithbrinkman.com/ Mail: Keith R. Brinkman, Mercy Ships, P.O. Box 2020, Lindale, TX 75771 USA