Our Theory of Change
Elderly wisdom meets the mental health Gap Action Program
TEWWY's mental health intervention programs adapt WHO's mental health Gap Action Program (mhGAP). mhGAP offers evidence-based intervention guidelines designed to promote mental health in low- and middle-income countries.
Our goal is to reduce and prevent suicides by providing evidence-based psychosocial interventions. We achieve this by building social support systems and strengthening community linkages with public health care pathways. Collaboratively, we create safe spaces so that under-resourced and marginalized communities have accessible mental health care. We advocate for policy change and budget to integrate mental health interventions into the community and social services.
Program participants learn, grow, and heal along three pathways, representing the journey they take in our programs. TEWWY believes that all three pathways: civic-mindedness, integrated mental health care, and wellness and economic empowerment, are necessary for good mental health. Elderly women, youth, and marginalized communities need to develop as change-makers of communities—as nonspecialist health care providers, as residents of a community, and as citizens of the world.
The pathways culminate in three long-term outcomes: Wisdom&Wellness® Communities are trained in providing evidence-based psychosocial interventions, are empowered with marketable skills, and are engaged citizens. If these long-term outcomes are achieved, we will have made an important contribution to achieving our ultimate vision of reducing and preventing suicides in Tanzanian communities.
Resources
mhGAP intervention guide for mental, neurological and substance use disorders in non-specialized health settings: mental
health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) – version 2.0. World Health Organization - Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO