The world has undergone a severe and rapid health disruption since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The crisis has not only shaken up the medical care systems, but also triggered mental health conditions or exacerbated existing ones. The pandemic led to bereavement, isolation, loss of income and fear of the unknown consequences. Thus, many people were left to struggle with increased levels of alcohol and drug use disorders, insomnia, depression, anxiety, bipolar, eating disorders, and schizophrenia.
The sensationalistic coverage on traditional and social media has not helped the uncertainty surrounding the virus and the variety of information being disseminated from various sources makes it easy to catastrophize and spiral out of control into dread and panic. Its therefore important to remember that everyone copes differently, and some people may be better able to adopt self-techniques, while others will need external help through medication and psychotherapy.
It takes a village
Mental health heavily influences our quality of life. So, it makes sense that mental health, just like physical health, needs to be taken care of and maintained. And one way that it can be maintained is through finding a sense of community, it requires all hands to be on deck.
Overcoming stigma
The first and foremost role of the community is promoting mental health awareness and educating community members on mental health matters in order to reduce the stigma and discrimination that has long been associated with experiencing mental illness and seeking mental health care.
Once the stigma has been dismantled, advocacy for the integration of mental health services into communities can begin. This will provide accessibility, acceptability and affordability of mental health services and assist in integrating mental health and social health programs into communities thus changing the perceptions of the community.[1]
Normalizing mental health
According to the World Banks’s Disease Control Priorities,[2] other roles of the community in health care include: training gatekeepers for early identification of mental illness among community members, delivery of low-intensity psychosocial support, establishing peer and family support groups and raising awareness about the harmful effects of substance use.
This can only be possible if the people in the community know who they can turn to when they need something, or one they can call on when they need to talk or need help through difficult situations. Knowing that there are people to provide support is a way to normalize mental health, but also to send a message of care, belonging and safety.
Mental health care can also be incorporated into various aspects in the community such as workplaces, through implementing workplace stress reduction programs, through supporting community-based rehabilitation, and by establishing community programs for child and adolescent mental health through parenting programs.
Digital support
In special cases, like the current COVID-19 pandemic, it can be particularly difficult to administer mental health care through services that were previously in place, due to the social distancing guidelines. Some of the strategies that have been adopted in various parts of the world to overcome the disruption of in-person services like counselling include telemedicine or teletherapy, whereby community psychotherapists or counselors remotely have their usually in-person therapy or counselling sessions over the phone, social media platforms or through video-conferencing tools.
At Never Again Rwanda, we continued our support to our space members who were left traumatized by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Our professional psychotherapists individually talked to the space members on phone and social media conversations were encouraged. In one of the twitter conversations, this is what some young people had to say.
Isabelle Masozera: COVID-19 presented us all with a new reality. Overnight we were faced with uncertainty, fear, worry, anxiety, and stress of the unknown. Now more than ever, it is critical that we prioritize our mental health amid it all.
Akiteka Diane: Personally, this pandemic caused me to have a constant fear, worry, and uncertainty about the future. There might be others who experienced these kinds of feelings.
Kubwimana Elisee: The COVID-19 interrupted my annual goals and it brought constant fear to me and in the community at large. Hence, we need to learn from it by saving and being prepared for future uncertainties.
Jessica. Mbanda: Youth have been at the forefront of COVID-19 response. In addition to spreading community awareness online by sharing information about what we can do to curb it’s spread, youth in Rwanda are volunteering in public spaces to remind people to wash their hands and social distance.
Ferdinand Dukundimana: As young people, we are the ones who use social media very much, so we must raise awareness with our colleagues on the guidelines set by the health authorities for the prevention of covid19. Also, as in rural areas, young people help to raise awareness, supporting others, safeguarding human rights,
The young people unanimously called for a unified and communal response to the current pandemic but also to the mental health conditions that will be sparked. However, it is important to note that for several years, mental health has been severely underfunded in most countries. Coupled with the growing demand due to the grief, isolation, fear, anxiety and loss of income that have come to many as a result of COVID-19, it is evident that successfully responding to the community’s needs for mental healthcare will require more resources to be allocated to managing mental health. Governments and civil society can partner-up to provide the required funds, since the demand will only grow as COVID-19 continues to have rampant effects.
By Jessica Mbanda and Eric Birori
[1] Jorm, M, F (2012) Mental health literacy: Empowering the community to take action for better mental health. American Psychology pp. 231-243
[2] Patel, V et.al (2016) Addressing the burden of mental, neurological, and substance use disorders: key messages from Disease Control Priorities. 3rd edition pp 1672-1685