MHM Magazine

In April, South Africans celebrated 30 years since the first democratic elections in 1994, when millions queued to vote in an era finally free from discrimination after 46 years of apartheid. September 2024, marks another equally extraordinary 30- year milestone, SADAG’s inception. To celebrate our journey, the South African Depression and Anxiety Group is releasing a book tracing its evolution and that of mental healthcare in South Africa on September 10th. The journey started when without access to information or support, as technology was not that sophisticated, I had suffered for ten years from debilitating panic attacks, shaking, sweating, becoming unable to drive or go shopping, until psychiatrist Professor Michael Berk of Wits Medical School diagnosed and treated my condition. Within weeks of being put on appropriate medication, the attacks had gone and have never returned. Motivated by my experience we knew we had to create change for others. By sharing my story in a local paper and inviting people to the meeting. Myself, Prof. Michael Berk, and psychiatrist and clinical psychologist Dr Frans Korb held our first open meeting in Sandton Library for what I thought would be a handful of sufferers of panic attacks. Over 90 people crowded in from as far as Siyabuswa township and Witbank. What began as the Panic Disorder Group grew swiftly into the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG). Established to make support, information and help more accessible for hundreds of thousands. The need for our services has never decreased, and this can be indicated by the findings of the South African Stress and Health Study. One in three of the adult population will have a mental illness at some point in their lives. , While one in six meet the diagnostic criteria for depression, anxiety or substance abuse in a 12-month period. Yet fewer than one in 10 people living with a mental health problem get the care they need. Mental health is still the Cinderella condition, receiving a fraction of the budget for mainstream health. According to Professor Katherine Sorsdahl, co-director of the Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health in Cape Town, South Africa allocates 5% of its health budget to mental health, but most goes to specialised psychiatric services, with less attention given to prevention or early intervention for mental health problems. CALL CENTRE It began by offering telephone counselling with a landline on my cluttered dining table. Today SADAG has over 30 toll-free helplines as well as a number of SMS and WhatsApp chat lines. We run the only Suicide Crisis and Substance Abuse toll- free helplines available 24/7. These lines are manned by more than 250 trained volunteers overseen by SADAG’s operations director, Cassey Chambers and Call Centre Manager Tracy Feinstein. It’s estimated that there are 23 suicides a day in South Africa and 460 attempted suicides, and we have volunteers who still vividly recall their first calls, – one of these life-saving stories shared was of a man holding a gun to his head, about to pull the trigger, who was eventually persuaded to take out the magazine and lay it and the gun on the table. We have many callers who are acutely depressed and who may have lost their jobs, their house, their car, or a loved one. We receive calls from all ages including the youth, who have been abused or raped and are in need of immediate attention. Currently, we have a huge issue with Youth and Rat Poison. Call centre volumes have grown steadily over the year, however they doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are now receiving around 2,500 calls a day. CONTAINERS To bridge the gap in the accessibility of mental health services, in 2013 SADAG piloted a project called the ‘Counselling Container’ in the under- resourced Diepsloot township. We placed a shipping container inside a centre that houses other NGOs which is beside the police station and fire station. The services offered can reach over 300,000 people living within Diepsloot and its surrounding areas. SADAG trained volunteers from the community provide free basic one-on-one counselling, referrals to clinics and hospitals for those with more serious conditions and give support where needed. Through the success and benefits the Diepsloot Counselling Container has illustrated, a second Counselling Container was set up in Ivory Park Midrand. In both Counselling Containers we support and work closely with other NGO’s, Schools, Police Station, Churches and co-ordinate Support Groups. SADAG continues to seek funding or sponsors to open more in other under resourced communities. We need Corporates who wish to use their name on it in difficult areas. The cost is zero to patients and of great value for the many thousands that use them annually. SCHOOLS PROGRAMMES An estimated 90% of children living with mental disorders in South Africa are unable to access mental healthcare, and 9% of teen deaths are the result of suicide. This prompted 30 REMARKABLE SADAG YEARS EDITORIAL Zane Wilson SADAG Founder and Director zane@sadag.org Issue 4 | 2024 | MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS | 1 MHM