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A bench and a grandmother's ear: Zimbabwe's novel mental health therapy spreads overseas
https://apnews.com/article/mental-health-zimbabwe-park-bench-grandmothers-0a3611a7b800aa3628bd3abe53a131cbA bench and a grandmother’s ear: Zimbabwe’s novel mental health therapy spreads overseas
BY FARAI MUTSAKA
Updated 1:41 AM EDT, July 5, 2024
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) —
[...]
Older people are at the center of a homegrown form of mental health therapy in Zimbabwe that is now being adopted in places like the United States.
The approach involves setting up benches in quiet, discreet corners of community clinics and in some churches, poor neighborhoods and at a university. An older woman with basic training in problem-solving therapy patiently sits there, ready to listen and engage in a one-on-one conversation.
The therapy is inspired by traditional practice in Zimbabwe in which grandmothers were the go-to people for wisdom in rough times. It had been abandoned with urbanization, the breakdown of tight-knit extended families and modern technology. Now it is proving useful again as mental health needs grow.
“Grandmothers are the custodians of local culture and wisdom. They are rooted in their communities,” said Dixon Chibanda, a psychiatry professor and founder of the initiative. “They don’t leave, and in addition, they have an amazing ability to use what we call ‘expressed empathy’… to make people feel respected and understood.”
[...]
___
The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
BY FARAI MUTSAKA
Updated 1:41 AM EDT, July 5, 2024
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) —
[...]
Older people are at the center of a homegrown form of mental health therapy in Zimbabwe that is now being adopted in places like the United States.
The approach involves setting up benches in quiet, discreet corners of community clinics and in some churches, poor neighborhoods and at a university. An older woman with basic training in problem-solving therapy patiently sits there, ready to listen and engage in a one-on-one conversation.
The therapy is inspired by traditional practice in Zimbabwe in which grandmothers were the go-to people for wisdom in rough times. It had been abandoned with urbanization, the breakdown of tight-knit extended families and modern technology. Now it is proving useful again as mental health needs grow.
“Grandmothers are the custodians of local culture and wisdom. They are rooted in their communities,” said Dixon Chibanda, a psychiatry professor and founder of the initiative. “They don’t leave, and in addition, they have an amazing ability to use what we call ‘expressed empathy’… to make people feel respected and understood.”
[...]
___
The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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