Our Model
TEWWY's Mental Health Intervention Program
TEWWYs MHIP inspired by Friendship Bench, adapts WHOs mental health Gap Action Program (mhGAP) which offers evidence-based intervention guidelines designed to promote mental health in hopes of preventing and reducing suicides.
In order to maximize the support for undeserved communities and best mobilize the power of elderly women in the change making process, TEWWYs Mental Health Intervention Program promotes Physical, Emotional and Social Wellbeing. They harness the power of story telling, mobile technology, one-on-one support and life skills building for both elderly women and the community at large to deliver mental health treatment, promotion and capacity building in service delivery.
Our community network of CSO partners, informal groups/ change makers and influencers, the Hekima Network, advises TEWWY on community needs to inform both advocacy and service strategies. TEWWY’s 4 Wisdom Markers are tailored to meet the needs in the network and communities can adapt & apply the markers that best serve their members.
Wisdom&Wellness Counselors
Elderly women and community members are trained to provide social support & mental health support, using life stories, experiences & counseling skills to empower communities through in person wisdom corners or phone based support.
Wisdom&Wellness Corners and Wisdom&Wellness Referral Centers/Hotline
Through leveraging the power of the mobile phone to reach people and share resources, a referral center will connect communities in crisis to wisdom counselors, wisdom circles and wisdom resources through online and phone based sharing.
A wisdom corner will be a resource station at an identified health clinic (or other community locale) where an in person wisdom counselor can connect community members directly to support resources/one-on-one support.
Wisdom&Wellness Circles
Wisdom circles are local in person support group sessions where truth telling/wisdom sharing is celebrated & where community members share life experiences, while gaining life skills
For life skills we will focus on the following:
- Personal Life Skills: Self-Care, Financial Management, Job Searching/Interviewing & Mentorship
- Artisan Training Program
- Creative Activism
- Mental Health Entrepreneurs Initiative
Wisdom/Wellness Resources & Sharing
Tapping into the power of documenting inter generational and intercultural wisdoms, stories and lessons learned, new social support tools are created and shared between communities.
Why this model?
- Cost-Effective in training elderly women and network members as wisdom counselors through both in person and phone based support sessions
- Capitalizes on mobile technology to connect communities to wisdom counselors and culturally relevant resources
- Integrates intergenerational wisdom (through stories, drama, songs etc.) to create new types of support resources for counselors and stakeholders.
- Combines both life experience sharing and life skills building to support financial empowerment through wisdom circles
