MHM Magazine

SADAG to prioritise teenage mental health through a Schools Outreach Programme, which started over 27 years ago. The talks are interactive and are done class-by-class, where trained facilitators discuss depression and suicide prevention with learners. We can reach up to over 2,000 learners a day spent at a school. This programme should be accessible to youth across the country, we will continue to advocate for It locally and internationally. SUPPORT GROUPS Support is the cornerstone of SADAG’s approach to mental health, and it now has more than 180 support groups countrywide, helping people deal with issues from depression and anxiety to bipolar disorder, substance abuse and grief. Most are run by volunteers with personal experience of such mental health issues. Specialised training assists support group leaders in running a beneficial group. Their details are shared through our Call Centre and website. SPEAKING BOOKS South Africa experienced a dramatic rise in HIV prevalence during the 1990s and became an epicentre of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, largely due to then-president Thabo Mbeki questioning the scientific consensus that HIV caused AIDS and delaying the rollout of lifesaving antiretrovirals. At its height, a survey found that 43.7% of those living with the condition also had a diagnosable mental disorder, most often depression. To provide accurate information on HIV and mental illnesses across languages and literacy levels, in 2005 Wilson and her husband, Brian Julius, introduced an innovative concept - the ‘Speaking Book’, The books are a combination of text, illustrations and sound that to ensure that vital life-saving key messages are seen, read, heard and understood. In 2008 an award for the project was received as part of the International Innovation Awards Programme. Today there are over 100 Speaking Book titles, available in 40 languages, from Afrikaans and Arabic to Zulu, on topics from Depression to Substance Abuse, Suicide Prevention, Clinical Trials, HIV and AIDS, and Children With Cancer. ADVOCACY Pushing for reform in mental health is a key to SADAG’s operations and was spotlighted by its watchdog and advocacy role in the Life Esidimeni tragedy in 2015-2016. This ended with at least 144 mental health patients perishing and 1400 others being exposed to trauma and violation of their rights when some 1 500 patients from the hospital were moved to unlicensed and under- resourced NGOs. It prompted Cassey Chambers Director of SADAG to do something it had never done before – it took the Gauteng Department of Health to court and joined in its litigation with SECTION27, the SA Federation for Mental Health, SASOP and families of patients. Eventually each family claimant was granted R1.2 million in damages. With a new Government of National Unity installed this year, it is noted that the case “serves as a reminder that government officials in the health sector can be held accountable for decision-making that impact the lives and well-being of individuals”. We have also taken people to the Medical Council for inappropriate behaviour with patients during their appointments. Thirty years on, SADAG has way more to celebrate and is committed to working with the new order to boost the provision of the mental health resources that the country still desperately needs. Now in my 70’s with memories ranging from being invited by the late US First Lady Rosalynn Carter to chair the Rosalynn Carter Foundation selection board for Mental Health Journalism, to being South African Woman of the Year for Health, and receiving The Order of the Baobab – the country’s highest civilian honour, I will still continue to forge on with a strong and powerful management team, with a watchful eye on every aspect of new operations in Medical Schemes, from editing this publication (Mental Health Matters), to supporting journalists to decrease the stigma and assisting many companies with a confidential toll- free line with us needing assistance for their staff, fighting for more Human Rights and advocating for accessible mental healthcare. We have come far, but still have a long way to go. Zane Wilson Founder EDITORIAL 2 | MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS | 2024 | Issue 4 MHM