Mental Health Can Be Shared On A Bench

I was pleased as a person who trained volunteers and counselled at a crisis centre years ago, to learn that mental health is always looking for ways to reach out. In a time like ours when depression and anger is rampant, this story needs telling.

There is an Org site online called Friendship Bench. There this tale unfolds about a man named Professor Dixon Chibanda of Mbare in Harare, Zimbabwe. Back in 2016 he lost a patient because he was too far away to help her. Another way to reach out had to be found.

Where he lived, the grandmothers were often the first to help since they held the family history and because of their advanced years could offer wisdom. So he asked them to train with him and volunteer their time to help others.

This lay training caught on and mental health benches were constructed where people could come to talk. But the name held a stigma that kept them from showing up. So they changed it to something more engaging, the friendship bench.

This concept caught on and now many countries are doing the same. If more serious counselling is required than just talking it out, the volunteer refers that person to the program behind this which offers a peer-led support group called CKT or Circle Kubatana Tose. It means ‘holding hands together’.

These peers also had issues at one time and joined the group as they learned to empower themselves. The peers are empathetic and come from the same community. They also help to raise funding through various projects to keep the programs going.

This concept shows a lot of promise and removes the idea that there is something wrong with you to you have an issue and just need help to solve it. It is a program we desperately need.