Rotary Global Grant

Finemind was selected as one of several cooperating organizations to implement a 9-month Rotary Global Grant project in Agago District in partnership with the District Health Office of Agago District, Dr. Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital, and Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative.

This 9-month project consists of two primary activities:

1. Training additional community health workers and delivering counseling,
2. Economic empowerment of women by providing training to 100 young mothers within the community, among other activities.

Mental Health Services

We will:

• Offer in-person, comprehensive, full-day training for our 18 community health workers, along with virtual, monthly refresher sessions.
• Onboard two additional lead trainers who will offer timely supervision, quality assurance, and immediate oversight.
• Train at least 10 more health workers, expanding our fleet of Finemind warriors to 28.
• Provide over 5,000 counseling sessions in 9 months.

Economic Empowerment of Women

We will work with the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI) to provide training for economic empowerment for 100 young mothers that will break the cycle of poverty and pave a way to greater stability and mental health for themselves and their families. This program includes the following:

• A two-month intensive training program that includes financial management skills, marketing skills, business idea generation, etc. 
• The young mothers will generate business ideas in partnership with fellow students.
• They will test the viability of their ideas within their communities.
• They will present their ideas to WPDI trainers for review and advice.
• The viable proposals will receive funds for the realization of their business plan.
• WPDI Trainers will provide expert mentoring to the trainees for a total of 9 months to galvanize community entrepreneurship.

We look forward to jumpstarting the women’s economic empowerment program in 2022 and continuing to provide effective counseling services to lift up Agago District. 

Above all, we’re grateful to the Rotary Club of Kampala Munyonyo, Rotary Club of Kitgum, and Rotary of Denver Mile High.

Clarke International University Short Course

In partnership with Clarke International University, we launched a short course, certificate program entitled “Mental Health & Psychosocial Support for Depression and Anxiety”. The course was led by our very own board member, Maurice Osire who has extensive knowledge in mental health.

This was our initial foray into academia, and we are proud to say that we graduated our first 5 students who successfully completed 8 weeks of rigorous study. We look forward to future courses as we upskill more students. The course is open to anyone worldwide – if you’ve had the itch to learn about what Finemind does, feel free to get in touch with us or apply here. We’d be delighted to have you join the next cohort!

Short Course description follows. 

8 weeks – The course is all online, consisting of a wide variety of learning formats. It’ll run you right at $100 USD or 350,000 UGX + 10,000 UGX for the application fee.

Depression and anxiety (referred to as common mental disorders or CMD) are a major public health concern in the world today. Those who suffer from CMD may be inhibited; it can prevent them from leading productive lives, worsen coexisting physical health problems, and in some instances, can even lead to suicide.

While there are a range of simple and effective treatments that can be provided to patients suffering from CMD, unfortunately, most patients do not receive these treatments. This course will equip you to recognize and help those impacted by CMD.

It will provide foundational knowledge about stress, explore a variety of counseling techniques and strategies, practice two different kinds of talk treatments, and offer guidance on when to refer a patient to a mental health specialist.

Community Activation with Village Health Teams

We were awarded $3500 to train and empower 90 VHTs to strengthen the delivery of mental health services by evaluating mental illness, assessing the need for treatment, and referring to health facilities for more in-depth services. Village Health Teams (VHTs) were established by the Uganda Ministry of Health (MoH) to empower communities to take part in the decisions that affect their health, mobilize communities for health programs, and strengthen the delivery of health services at the household level. Finemind is excited to deepen our relationship with VHTs as we strive to offer the highest level of mental health care.

The project consisted of two main phases. The first phase required training 90 VHTs to be informed about the importance and value of mental health counseling, reasons to explore mental health services, Finemind’s chosen course of intervention, et al. The second phase delivered three “community activation meetings” whereby said VHTs engaged the community in mental health education talks.

Implementation

Phase 1

Finemind focused on three sub-counties within Agago District for project activities: Paimol Sub-County, Omiya Sub-County, and Lai Mutto Town Council. Finemind’s office is located in Lai-Mutto Town Council while the other two are the surrounding sub-counties. Our team factored in costs for successful project uptake given the limited funds for coordination and transportation. However, with continued partnership we will be happy to expand to other sub-counties.

With the support of local authorities, district officials, and sub-county chairpersons, we then identified and trained 30 VHTs with basic mental health knowledge and skills (Appendix 1).

The three objectives of the training were

1. To increase mental health awareness;
2. To offer mental health education;
3. And, to articulate referral steps for patients to Finemind and others, as needed.

The training reflected foundational elements from our in-depth training to upskill lay workers to offer psychosocial services.

Overall, the VHTs were excited about the opportunity to liaise with the community through Finemind. VHTs are deeply rooted in the community and are often first to offer first aid. In fact, they’re often first to relate with different psychological issues as well ranging from domestic violence, inflicting self-harm, or attempting suicide.

Phase 2

Given that this was an open event for the community, it is difficult to give the exact number of community members attending. However, we are estimating over 250 attendees for Paimol Sub-County and over 400 in attendance for each of the remaining two Sub-Counties. We hosted friendly bicycle races in an effort to mobilize the community to attend.

Attendees were happy and appreciative of the program. They learned strategies and best practices of dealing with stress like simple self-care steps by way of a breathing exercise. We also discussed in detail what Finemind does and how sound mental health can be correlated with work productivity, thriving business, and increased income.

In addition to the community activation meetings, the VHTs conducted three days of bicycle outreach through villages to meet people where they are and to offer mental health education.

• Paimol Sub-County
• Omiya Sub-County 
• Lai Mutto Town Council

Impact

Finemind counselors in Paimol, Omiya and Lai-Mutto have commented that many community members appreciated the activation meetings. The Local Council 1 Chairpersons (LC1s) also report that the community is more informed about stress and depression.

Foot traffic to the Finemind office has since increased. In fact, three VHTs came to our office on December 26th with referral cases of patients who needed to see senior Finemind counselors. The three LC1s noted that historically right after Christmas there would be many cases of domestic violence – last year there were over 10. This year only three cases of domestic violence were reported after Christmas. Much as there is no evidence to directly credit Finemind for these achievements, the Local Councilors do not know who else to credit given that Finemind’s awareness campaigns discouraged the use of violence in response to stressful situations but instead to seek counseling. As the request for counseling services increases in these three Sub-Counties, the numbers of domestic violence cases and general angry behavior have reduced and zero case of suicide this Christmas season has been registered.

Recommendations and Looking Ahead

In addition to increasing the frequency of the activation meetings, the community requested that Finemind host more intimate community dialogues with attendees to explore reasons for certain behaviors and to co-create solutions. For the activities to continue, the VHTs requested a recurring and sustainable stipend to interface with the community and to conduct bicycle outreach to hard-to-reach places. Finemind can better implement a tracking system marking patients who have come for counseling because of related activities to this program.

We’re grateful for this exciting partnership and look forward to continued impact. We’re hopeful we can work together in deepening our current relationships, expanding our scope of services, and making Agago District healthier. We welcome your feedback.

Uplift Training

While Finemind’s initial focus was on working with adults, through the Uplift program, Finemind has been able to start the process of empowering children through parenting programs, engaging children through literature, and encouraging other activities to promote connectedness. Utopia facilitated a six week training for six counsellors. Finemind is looking forward to applying the learnings into a six month parenting and child development project in 2022!

The Objective of the Uplift Training

The objectives of the training were designed according to the topical discussions as in the content arrangement. The overall mission of the training was to equip our counsellors with the tools to aid in the development of social, emotional, and spiritual skills of children in Agago District. Furthermore, the vision of the training aspires to empower each child to transform into a community leader guided by love, character, virtue and values.

Training Content Outline

Week 1 – Defining and understanding relationships and connectedness.
Week 2 – Teacher-learner relationship (Parenting and Modelling)
Week 3 – The Golden Rule. Ubuntu. Adaptive Culture
Week 4 – Fear and anxiety. Resilience. Mindfulness.
Week 5 – Language. Power of words. Literacy & Storytelling
Week 6 – Review and Q&A for past lessons

Training Methodology

The training was conducted over Zoom with the Finemind team seated in a conference hall.

Analysis, Evaluation, and Feedback

The Finemind team found the Uplift training both unique and life-changing. The team walked away with several lessons and learnings from the six weeks’ engagement as evidenced below:

• The team acquired new knowledge that informed their understanding of parenting. Notably, in most villages in Agago it’s seen as normal for a parent to shout at a child while in the wrong or even spank or beat them. The Uplift trainees where able to recognize and appreciate the need to be kind and to show compassion to children even when correcting or disciplining.
• All of the trainees recognized and appreciated the power of language while interacting with children. They learned that positive words encourage children to do better and to grow up emotionally strong. Some of these words include, “You can make it!”, “You are strong!”, “You are brilliant!” etc. From the lesson of Ubuntu – I am because we are – the team recognized the importance of putting others’ feelings into consideration to show greater understanding and empathy.
• The trainees are looking forward to apply the learnings of the parent module. Particularly, they now feel better equipped to connect with parents and to share good parenting skills in order to support the child’s ability to grow up emotionally strong and responsible.
• The trainees appreciate the fact that the connections people develop through their attachment with other things, objects and other humans are important to their emotional growth, strength, and wellbeing.
• It was well evidenced to the trainees that children learn more through practical illustrations like the ones Uplift uses in their children books. Reference was also made to some of the books like Amani the Boda Boda Rider.
• They also appreciated the need to involve children in domestic and school activities to promote connectedness with people and environment to help understand fear and anxiety.

Our Forever Home

Thanks to a generous donation from the Frohardt family, we have an everlasting home! What’s in a home you may ask? Comfort, belonging, and rootedness. An idea worth reckoning with – a becoming. A home gives place a heartbeat, and we’re honored to share our home with you. It’s not much and yet it’s everything. Fully fitted with an administration wing, a counseling room, and a flush toilet, we’re ready to deliver on our promise of care and effective mental health services.

There’s a hustle and energy surrounding our permanence – the community has received us well, and we’re looking forward to welcoming them as the days draw on. Look for more additions in 2022. But for now, let’s celebrate!

Looking Ahead

2021 was a great year for Finemind, while not so great for the rest of the world. What has become more evident is that we are more committed to mental health care than ever and that our role is indefatigable. We have a place – not only, we have an obligation to keep pushing and spreading our wings to offer quality and accessible mental health care. We’re certainly just scratching the surface. As far as the adage goes; “this is only the beginning”, we truly believe that.

We’re looking forward to 2022, and we already have a few projects we’re working on.

• short-term intervention for traumatic stress disorders after war, terror, and torture;
• a PTSD and substance abuse program ; 
• expanded suicide intervention and safety planning; 
• parenting workshops to support children’s mental health;
• administering training in regards to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) within schools;
• improve the social and emotional skills of children to lay the foundation for lifelong mental health, and
• liaising with larger corporations for the delivery of medical equipment for self-care practices.

Thank you for your endless support. Running a non-profit is no easy work and warrants all sorts of help. As the African proverb states, “It takes a village to raise a child.” YOU are our village, and the rearing of Finemind would be impossible without the countless hours, dollars, prayers, and well-wishes. They don’t go unnoticed. 

Keep choosing us as we continue to live our our promise – we care… we mean it.

With care,

PAVEL REPPO