Special Effort Needed to Tackle Mental Illness Burden

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More public-private partnerships and innovation are needed to tackle the increasing burden of mental illness at a community level, Specialist Psychiatrist, Dr Suvira Ramlall, said while officially opening the KwaZulu-Natal Mental Health Advocacy Group’s 3rd Annual Symposium.

The Symposium, held as part of Mental Illness Awareness Month, took place at the UNITE Building on UKZN’s Howard College campus.

The Symposium’s organiser, Clinical Psychologist at the King Dinuzulu Hospital Complex, Mr Suntosh Pillay, said the event aimed to create a common space in which mental health care stakeholders could meet and network.

‘Too often we work in silos, unaware of the fantastic work being done by another organisation, or unaware of how our resources and expertise could be shared,’ said Pillay. ‘While we lament the lack of financial capital, there are many missed opportunities to build social capital. This Symposium, and our annual walk in October, are just two examples of inter-professional and trans-professional collaboration to build more mental health social capital.’

Six speakers were invited to share their expertise under the theme: “Voices from the Community”.

Founder of the NGO, Action in Autism, Ms Liza Aziz, is a mother of a child with autism. Rather than lament the poor services for children with autism, she made a difference in terms of improving the situation.

Action in Autism hosts support groups, and holds free diagnostic clinics, early intervention programmes, and social events. She shared her struggles and victories in getting the Department of Education in KZN to allocate funds to schools to cater for autistic children.

‘In 2005, there was only one school in KwaZulu-Natal catering for 19 children with autism, even though KwaZulu-Natal had 150 000 people living with the problem,’ said Aziz.

She warned that ‘over 40 % of people with autism are non-verbal and therefore vulnerable to abuse, so we need to start working from a human rights framework’.

Aziz said a Human Rights Watch report in August 2015 titled: “Complicit in Exclusion: South Africa’s Failure to Guarantee an Inclusive Education for Children with Disability”, revealed that more than 534 000 children with disabilities were not in the Basic Education system.

Executive Director of Durban and Coastal Mental Health, Ms Gita Hari, shared her NGO’s best practices, one of which is the Circle of Hope project to prevent foetal alcohol syndrome.

‘Through a funding partnership with South African Breweries, we initiated our Circle of Hope Programme. Activities include reinforcing behaviour change in the community by educating 1 338 women, shebeen owners, community health workers, and educators about the harmful effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy,’ said Hari.

Hari says it makes financial sense to integrate patients into communities, instead of long hospitalisations. ‘The cost of maintaining a stable patient in hospital is four times greater than the per capita cost of a resident in a halfway house.’

A Clinical Psychologist at Fort Napier Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, Ms Anne Kramers-Olen, spoke about the ethical issues of deinstitutionalisation and psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR).

‘Despite research advances in PSR, clinical interventions do not reflect the empirical evidence. For example, people with chronic mental illnesses can make decisions about their own care, and treatment outcomes are more favourable when patients actively participate in setting their rehabilitation goals,’ said Kramers-Olsen.

The CEO of Choose Life Specialist Recovery Centre, Mr Michael J Theron, explained the neurobiology of drug addiction and its impact on community care.

‘There isn’t a single community that is exempt from drug abuse and addiction. But addiction is a treatable disease and relapses do not mean treatment failures,’ said Theron. ‘The impairment in self-control is the hallmark of addiction even though the initial choice to use drugs may have been voluntary.’ He implored recovering addicts to avoid people, places and things that trigger memories of the drug use.

Deputy Director for Forensic Services at the National Department of Health Mr Mokete Motaung was the keynote speaker in place of his Director, Mr Evah Mulutsi, who was indisposed.

Motaung presented the findings of Mulutsi’s PhD research on the implementation of the Mental Health Care Act across South Africa’s psychiatric hospitals. Her findings painted a depressing picture of non-compliance, ignorance, and ethical and legal failures to protect the rights of mental healthcare users.

Mr Martin Harris, a service user, received a standing ovation for sharing the story of his poignant and courageous personal journey of coping with bipolar mood disorder for more than 30 years. Reading from his autobiography, Heaven Holds Every Tear, he said: ‘My story has been told, but the race is still being run. Bipolar hasn’t wrecked my life, it’s shaped it.’ His tenacity and creative approaches to living a meaningful and productive life despite the constraints of his illness and side effects of medication was an inspiration to all.

The Symposium ended with an official announcement that the 2nd annual Durban Mental Health Advocacy Walk takes place on 15 October at the North Beach amphitheatre. It is anticipated that this walk will be replicated nationally by other organisations in other provinces and will become an annual international event.

The KwaZulu-Natal Mental Health Advocacy Group is available on email: MHadvocacygroup@gmail.com or at phone: 031 242 6180/4.

Words by: Suntosh Pillay and Lihle Sosibo