|
Mental Health &
Wellbeing |
|
|
· |
Capacity building in mental health |
|
|
|
The Trauma and Global Health (TGH) Programme in
Sri Lanka jointly implemented by PRDA and the McGill University
and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Montreal,
Canada in its third year (2009-2010) focuses on capacity
building and knowledge transfer on aspects related to mental
health, community wellbeing and mental disorders. The target
audiences for capacity building would include mental health
professionals, social workers, counselors and other service
providers and particularly those working in communities affected
by conflict and natural disaster. The project is in the process
of developing a training package largely based on insights and
experiences gained through extensive research that was conducted
over a period of two years (2007&2008) in refugee and tsunami
affected communities in the Puttalam, Hambantota and Batticaloa
districts on issues related to mental health and wellbeing. The
training package attempts to incorporate subject matter related
to concepts of mental health, wellbeing and mental disorders,
community perceptions of mental health and wellbeing,
participatory approaches to community consultations and
designing and planning community based psychosocial and mental
health interventions. |
|
|
· |
A process tool-kit for psychosocial interventions |
|
|
|
The TGH project has been successful in developing
a process tool-kit for psychosocial interventions which presents
a set of useful guidelines for service providing organizations
on how to approach and conduct community consultations, identify
and prioritize community issues, work with community groups,
strengthen local resources, skills and capacities etc. PRDA
invites local partner organizations particularly those working
on psychosocial issues to make use of this tool-kit in their
interventions at community level. |
|
|
· |
Publications |
|
1.
Mental Health
and Wellbeing – Experience of communities affected by conflict
and 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka – Chamindra Weerackody and Suman
Fernando |
|
|
|
This book presents a unique study of mental
health and wellbeing as seen through the experiences and
perceptions of people themselves in two communities in Sri Lanka
– those in the South (Hambantota area) who were exposed to the
2004 tsunami and Muslim refugees expelled from the North (Jaffna
area) now living in the North-Western Puttalam district. The
authors draw lessons for policy makers and the training of
people working in areas of conflict and disaster; and they
suggest a model for developing community based mental health
services in rural areas in countries such as Sri Lanka.
The book is available for sale at PRDA Head
Office, 64, Horton Place, Colombo 07. Price: Rs.250/- |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
2. Field Report – Perceptions of Social
Stratification and Wellbeing in Refugee Communities in
North-Western Sri Lanka – Chamindra Weerackody and Suman
Fernando, International Journal of Migration, Health and Social
Care, p. 47-56, Volume 4, Issue 2 October 2008, Pavilion
Journals (Brighton) Ltd. |
|
|
· |
Workshop on Wellbeing, Mental Health and
Community Care |
|
|
|
PRDA under the TGH programme conducted a two day
training workshop for mental health professionals and workers on
‘Wellbeing, Mental Health and Community Care’. The workshop
organized jointly by PRDA and the National Institute of Mental
Health (NIMH) was held on 24th and 25th
March 2009 at the NIMH, Angoda. The number of participants was
around 100 of whom the majority were the trainee psychiatrists,
medical officers (mental health), nurses and psychiatric social
workers. |
|
|
· |
Study on community perceptions of mental
illnesses |
|
|
|
This study was focused on to elicit community
perceptions of mental illnesses, their definitions and
interpretations of causal factors, family and community response
patterns to mentally ill persons, implications of mentally ill
persons on family and community, persons and agencies approached
by families in seeking treatment/healing for mentally ill
persons etc. One of the significant aspects of this study was to
understand the influence of community beliefs, cultural
practices etc. on community/family perceptions on mental
illnesses and practices adopted to treat/heal mentally ill
persons. The study was conducted by two psychiatric registrars
at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) – Dr. Rasitha
Perera and Dr. Lushan Hettiarachchi in two tsunami affected
communities in the Galle district. |
|
|
· |
Community Action Projects for Mental Health
Promotion |
|
|
|
The TGH project initiated a few community based
pilot projects in the tsunami affected Mirissa village (Matara
district) for improving wellbeing/mental health of the
communities affected by the 2004 tsunami. These pilot projects
would serve as models to draw lessons on how the affected
communities could be facilitated to take initiative to use their
own resources (with minimal external support), strengths and
capacities to address some of their felt community needs to
enhance their economic, social, psychological and spiritual
wellbeing. |
|
Four projects were identified in consultation with
the community members using a set of criteria. These
projects are intended to generate community
participation and benefit the whole
community/significant cross-section in their daily
lives. Two of the selected projects -flowers alter
for the Bodhiya and a Buddha statue/center of
worship have already been completed. The rest of
the projects will also be completed soon. |
|
 |
|
Flower altar |
|
|
|
· |
Teasdale-Corti TGH Program (TGH) |
|
|
|
The Teasdale-Corti Trauma and Global Health (TGH) programme
stems from a partnership between McGill University and research
teams based in Guatemala City (Guatemala), Kathmandu (Nepal),
Lima (Peru), and Colombo (Sri Lanka). The project is entitled
“political violence, natural disasters and mental health
outcomes: developing innovative health policies and
interventions”. The ultimate objective of the program is to
reduce the mental health burden of civilian populations exposed
to protracted and endemic political violence and episodic
natural disasters, foster the process of healing, psychosocial
rehabilitation and recovery, and generate improved mental health
policies and services in the participating countries. The
current situation in all four countries presents a mosaic of
contrasting realities and poses new challenges to the ongoing
efforts for peace building, conflict resolution, reconciliation
and reconstruction of civil society. This project encompasses
three major components, namely Information Generation (IG),
Knowledge Transfer (KT) and Capacity Building (CB). |
|
PRDA is the Sri Lankan counterpart of the
Teasdale-Corti TGH Program (TGH) conducted by the McGill
University in Sri Lanka. The project funded by the
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) started
in 2007 and will continue over a period of four years.
The activities planned for Sri Lanka includes
participatory research on ‘community wellbeing’
conducted with conflict and tsunami affected
communities, information sharing, training and capacity
building of mental health workers and pilot projects to
develop community based training methodologies and
community based mental health care models. |
|
 |
|
Members of the Teasdale-Corti Project
Management Committee
From left to right: Dr. Suman Fernando,
Prof.Laurence Kirmayer, Ms. Consuelo Errazuriz, Dr.
Duncan Perdersen, Bhogendra Sharma, Chamindra Weerackody,
Dr. Jaswant Guzder and Victor Lopez (May 2008, Montreal) |
|
|
|
 |
|
Members of the Core-Team of the Sri Lanka
Teasdale-Corti Project
From left to right: Chamindra Weerackody,
Ananda Galappatti, Mrs. Shanti Fernando, Ms. Harini
Amarasuriya, Dr. Suman Fernando, Dr. Gameela
Samarasinghe (absent) |
|
|
|
· |
Capacity building training for mental health professionals |
|
|
|
Under the Teasdale-Corti Trauma and Global Health (TGH) project,
PRDA nominated and facilitated the participation of Dr. Varuni
Ganepola, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Colombo and Dr.
Judy Jeyakumar, Medical Officer, Batticaloa Teaching Hospital
and a Diploma Trainee in Psychiatry at the Summer Course on
Transcultural Psychiatry conducted by the McGill University in
June 2007. Both Dr. Jeyakumar and Dr Ganepola followed the one
month Summer Programme in Social and Cultural Psychiatry while
Dr. Ganepola continued for a further two months which included
clinical training in working with families and children. |
|
|
|
In 2008, PRDA nominated and facilitated the participation of Dr.
Shavindra Dias, Consultant Psychiatrist and Senior Lecturer,
University of Peradeniya and Ms. Udeni Appuhamilage, Lecturer in
Psychology, University of Peradeniya to follow the one month
Summer Programme in Social and Cultural Psychiatry now being
conducted at the McGill University. |
|
|
· |
Workshop and Conference on Peace, Conflict and
Reconciliation- Contributions of Cultural Psychiatry, April 29th
– May 2nd 2008, Montreal, Canada |
|
|
|
Chamindra Weerackody, Sri Lanka Project Lead of the Teasdale-Corti
Trauma and Global Health (TGH) project participated in the above
workshop and conference organized by the Division of Social &
Transcultural Psychiatry of the McGill University. Dr. Suman
Fernando, Consultant Psychiatrist based in UK and consultant to
the Teasdale-Corti TGH project in Sri Lanka also participated.
|
|
|
|
Dr. Suman Fernando and Chamindra
Weerackody presented a joint paper entitled “Re-building
traumatized communities: a model of community
development (CD) backed by cultural psychiatry”.
Both of them also participated in a panel discussion and
presented a second paper entitled “Conflict,
Peace Building and Reconciliation Efforts in Sri Lanka”.
|
|
 |
|
Panelists from Guatemala, Nepal, Sri
Lanka and Peru at the Peace, Conflict and Reconciliation
- Contributions of Cultural Psychiatry Conference |
|
|
|
· |
Working papers on research conducted with conflict and tsunami
affected communities |
|
|
|
Under the Teasdale-Corti Trauma and Global Health (TGH) project,
PRDA has conducted a series of participatory research on the
‘wellbeing of communities affected by conflict and tsunami’. The
study sites included two tsunami affected communities in the
Hambantota district, one conflict affected and one tsunami
affected community in the Batticaloa district and one Muslim
refugee community in the Puttalam district (Kalpitiya). The
preliminary findings of the studies are compiled into the
following working papers. |
|
-
Perceptions of wellbeing in tsunami affected
communities in Southern Sri Lanka; a preliminary report
Chamindra Weerackody, Suman Fernando and Thushara Senarathna
-
Perceptions of wellbeing in refugee
communities in the North-Western Sri Lanka; a preliminary
report - Chamindra Weerackody and Suman Fernando
-
Conflict, disaster, political economy and
psychosocial wellbeing: Two community studies from
Batticaloa - Ananda Galappatti, Murugaverl Murugesu, Stanley
Prabaharan & Chamindra Weerackody
|
|
|
· |
Mental Health Workshops |
|
|
|
PRDA in collaboration with the Institute of Psychiatry, Angoda
organized three training workshops for mental health
professionals and workers in Sri Lanka. The workshops were held
from 21st to 26th January 2008 at the
Institute of Psychiatry, Angoda. The three workshops were; |
|
|
|
· |
Trans-cultural and Social Psychiatry Course – 21st
and 22nd January |
· |
Trauma and Mental Health workshop – 23rd
January |
· |
Research Methods in Mental Health workshop – 24th
– 26th January |
|
|
|
|
Each
workshop was attended by more than 70 participants, which
included psychiatrists, trainee psychiatrists, social workers,
counsellors, academics, researchers and representatives of NGOs.
All three workshops were conducted by a team of resource persons
from the McGill University and the Douglas Mental Health
University Institute in Montreal, Canada. The Colombo Office of
the WHO and the McGill University supported the logistical
arrangements. |
|
|
|
These training workshops were part of the Trauma and
Global Health (TGH) programme of the McGill University
whose Sri Lankan partner for the
current
four-year programme is PRDA. Dr. Suman Fernando,
Psychiatrist based in UK is the consultant to the Sri
Lanka programme. |
|
|
|
 |
|
Lighting the traditional oil lamp at the
inauguration of the mental health workshops at Angoda |
|
|
|
 |
|
Dr.
Suman Fernando, Consultant to Teasdale-Corti Project,
Mr. Sunimal Fernando, Advisor to H.E. the President and
Dr. Duncan Pederson, resource person from McGill stand
to light the traditional oil lamp at the worksho
inauguration. |
|
|
|
 |
|
Dr.
Duncan Pederson, McGill Resource Person delivering a
presentation |
|
|
|