How Women Are Helping Their Neighbors Heal From Depression

How Women Are Helping Their Neighbors Heal From Depression

In places with few mental health professionals, volunteer-led group therapy sends positive ripples through families and communities.

By: Elizabeth Hewitt

Phiri is among the estimated 280 million people around the globe who experience depression. Ranging in severity, the condition can have big implications for people’s daily functioning and quality of life. But while depression is widespread, options for mental health treatment are scarce, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In Zambia, for instance, there was an estimated total of 25 psychologists and psychiatrists as of 2020.

Instead of relying on mental health professionals, StrongMinds offers group therapy facilitated by trained community members — often clients who have completed the treatment themselves, like Phiri. This group therapy model has proven to be an effective way to treat depression. Since the organization launched in 2013, half a million people have gone through the treatment program. Three-quarters of participants screened as being free of depression symptoms two weeks after completing it.

“What we’ve learned in 11 years is that depression treatment can be, what we call, democratized,” says StrongMinds founder and executive director Sean Mayberry. “You can take it out of the hands of doctors and nurses and give it to the community itself.”

I like the overall mission of this group but I am wary of this idea that depression treatment can be taken out of the hands of professionals and given to the community. 

I believe this group interaction treatment can work for some people, and in places with lack of professional help it's definitely needed, but I also think there are going to be cases that simply get misjudged by any community and would need professionals...

I like the overall mission of this group but I am wary of this idea that depression treatment can be taken out of the hands of professionals and given to the community. 

Oddly enough, I've always been wary of depression treatment being in the hands of professionals.

How Women Are Helping Their Neighbors Heal From Depression


By: Elizabeth Hewitt


I like the overall mission of this group but I am wary of this idea that depression treatment can be taken out of the hands of professionals and given to the community. 

I believe this group interaction treatment can work for some people, and in places with lack of professional help it's definitely needed, but I also think there are going to be cases that simply get misjudged by any community and would need professionals...

A friend of mine did some work for a voluntary group having been treated himself.  One day he let me into his flat while he was on the phone to a client (confidentiality failure!) whereupon I realized he wasn't using the techniques they had trained him to use.  He told his client to just stop being scared; no attempts at  understanding the causes and deal with them and no attempts at explaining how she was supposed to just stop being scared.  She must have put the phone down feeling there was no hope at all.  I like the idea of community help but I have no trust in human nature to stick to tried and tested principles, especially in this day of internet "solutions."

Oddly enough, I've always been wary of depression treatment being in the hands of professionals.

It's definitely not an easy issue, and both the community and professional sides need examination to ensure best practices are being followed.

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/women-...epression/

Maintaining the quality of StrongMinds treatment as the organization expands is a challenge, acknowledges Mayberry. Volunteers go through regular training refreshers. Surprise audits check in on the quality of programs. And the organization is rigorous about screening clients throughout treatment to gauge their symptoms and collecting data on outcomes.

I didn't see any mention in the article about forms of depression that are caused biological factors that can't be cured by therapy. I suppose in those cases the support of a group is still helpful.