Kenya Psychosocial Disability August 2013 Edition Newsletter

7/29/2019 Kenya Psychosocial Disability August 2013 Edition Newsletter

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Kenya Psychosocial DisabilityWatch Edition May 2013 1

THE KENYAPSYCHOSOCIAL DISABILITYWATCH EDITION - AUGUST 2013

BEST PRACTICES:

GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY AT ITS BEST

In the year 2012 USPKenya was inundated by requests from individuals and families

for psychosocial support and information from all over Kenya. Tis came up as

the Nairobi peer support group kept growing from strength to strength attractingmembers from all over the country. ravelling to Nairobi for many members proved tobe a challenge hence the need to set up support mechanism in other regions for users/survivors became a top priority.

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In September 2012, through thesupport o the Disability RightsInitiative o Te Open SocietyFoundation, the organizationembarked on establishing peer supportgroups in our other counties namely

Nyeri, Kiambu, Nakuru, and Eldoret,on pilot basis. Tis is in line with thevision o the organization to establishpeer support group networks in eachcounty by 2018.

Tese support groups will empowerpersons with psychosocial disabilitiesso that they can be involved in decision-making and be able to articulate theirissues with respective decision makersincluding their amilies, care givers,doctors and governments within thedevolved governance structures oKenya. It also helps them to claimtheir rights and many do recover inthe process. Support groups help them

to learn about their human rights,condition and help them to encourageone another and to work together oncommon objectives.

Since then, USPKenya has walked with

these peer support groups; in buildingtheir capacity through right-basedtrainings and imparting advocacyskills. Now, not only has the challengeo distance been addressed; but we haveempowered sel-advocates to claimtheir space within their respectivecommunities.

Tis Kenya Psychosocial DisabilityWatch edition celebrates best practicesrom one o the groups in NyeriCounty showcasing their achievementin eorts to build vibrant grassrootsmovement which is a key pillar o theorganizations vision.

Tat USPKenya has been able to startand boost through training six peersupport groups in our counties hasbeen commendable seeing how muchit has enhanced the lives o personswith psychosocial disability.

Slowly but surely persons withpsychosocial disability are notonly starting to claim their spacein the disability movement but arebecoming condent sel-advocatesand by accumulating knowledge onpsychosocial disability are helping todeal with the issue o stigma that isrampant in society.

And this is not only happening in theurban areas, no! Te Karatina Mental

Health Group in Nyeri County isleading the way to show that rural areashave as much opportunity as urbanareas in demonstrating best practices


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in the area o psychosocial disability.Karatina Mental Health Group receivedits certicate rom the Ministry oSocial Services in August 2012. Itconsists o members rom Karaba andKaratina totaling over 60 members.Te members include users, survivorsand caregivers, representing both menand women. Coming rom a mostlyrural area, in terms o occupation,many members are small scale tradersin the local market, armers, carpentersand casual laborers. Additionally, aew o the members are proessionalsworking in dierent sectors.Te group is chaired by AgnesWangechi. Te secretary who alsodoubles up as the Chairman o the

USPKenya board is Andrew Kimondo.Te treasurer is also a person with apsychosocial disability.

Te group has been receiving rights-based trainings through USPKenyain the area o psychosocial disability,mental health covering diverse topicssuch as: understanding mental health;living and caring or a person with apsychosocial disability by respectingtheir inherent dignity; and empoweringpersons with psychosocial disability tolead productive lives. Te human rightstrainings ocus on the Constitution oKenya, the Persons with DisabilitiesAct (2003) and the Convention onthe Rights o Persons with Disabilities(CRPD).

Lucy Mwihaki, an ofcial in the groupsays that such trainings have improvedthe capacity o members to be bettersel advocates. It is this sel condencethat has seen the group adapt a modelthat can be replicated by other peersupport groups.

Te Karatina Peer support group hasadopted a model where persons withpsychosocial disability are not passivebut rather active in demanding theirrights and nding opportunity to livemeaningul and productive lives onan equal basis with others in spite otheir disability. Tis approach hasbeen successul as demonstrated bythe ollowing key engagements at thegrassroots level.

Exemption from payingCounty-Council Levy Fees

Members who are in the support group do not pay the county councillevy fees in order to run their trade in the market. However, it neverused to be like this. What did the group members do?

Every trader in the market has to pay

a certain ee in order to run a stallin the market. For the traders withpsychosocial disability, this in itsel isa challenge as many o them live inpoverty. Some are also unable to engagein business activities throughout unliketheir counterparts.

In addition to meeting their normaldaily needs like ood and shelter, mostpersons with psychosocial disabilityhave to put into considerations costs ohealthcare e.g. medication, counseling

and hospitalization. Due to this, therewas a need to advocate or a waiver onthe ees being levied by the CountyCouncil.

We knew that the people with physical

disability did not pay the town councillevy and we had to also state our caseto the town clerk and through thetrainings we have received we knewthat we were persons with disabilitiesand should be treated on an equalbasis with others. We had to makethis known to the town clerk in orderto get exemption so that our memberscould have extra money to meet theirdaily needs and cost o healthcare,said Lucy who led a delegation to theown Clerk ofces. Te main problemhowever or the group was that unlikepersons with physical disability whohave cards identiying them as personswith disability and whose disabilities

are visible, persons with psychosocial

disability had not been issued with suchcards and this was compounded by theact that the disability is invisible.

But where there is a will there is a wayand they could not back o and letmembers be discriminated; becausethey understood that persons withpsychosocial disability should betreated on an equal basis with otherswithout prejudice and discrimination.It is or this reason that we spokewith the doctor in the hospital so thatmembers rom our group could beassessed and issued with a orm to showthe town clerk that they are persons


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with disability hence are exemptedrom paying the county council leviesbut we are still ollowing up on thecards, noted another member in thedelegation.

Additionally, through this orm, themembers are now engaging with theDepartment o Gender and SocialServices to be given grants to invest inlivelihood projects.

Grace Wangui who sells arm producein the market is happy that she doesnot have to pay the market leviessaying that there was a time she couldnot conduct business in the marketdue to the inability to meet the citycouncil levies. Tis, as she said, wouldmake her beg or ood as she did nothave an income. Now I am able tomake money and do not have to beganymore.

Getting medicine was anotherchallenge that the membersin the support group aced. It

is well known that there are memberswho got sick and probably had nomoney; so when they went to thehospital they could not be treated and

normally they will be turned away.

Usually when one went to the hospital;they paid a ee o Sh. 50 or the hospitalcard, Sh. 50 at the clinic and Sh. 50

or an injection or medication. Wespoke with the doctor in charge andexplained the challenges our membersace, said Kimondo. It was then agreedthat or psychiatric patients in thesupport group, there was no need togo through this process. Teir cards

are put in a common place so thatwhen they go to the hospital they areexempted rom paying or the hospitalcard. Additionally, i there is a dire

case, they are not turned away ratherthe doctor will still attend to them.

Now most members are happy thatthey can access services at a lower costand as members o the support groupare assured that even i they require

medical attention and have no money;they shall not be turned away rom thehospital without treatment.

REDUCED COSTSAT THE HOSPITAL


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BURSARY FROMTHE COMMUNITYDEVELOPMENT FUND

Another area where the group

has made strides as a resulto the trainings received that

have empowered them is to also claimtheir space as persons with disabilityin the area o education within theCommunity Development Fund(CDF). Our members ace a lot onancial difculties and as a resultsome o the children drop out oschool, said Agnes, a member.

As ofcials they elt that they also had totake advantage o the bursaries oeredin the constituency. We decided topay a visit to our area Member oParliament to state our case. It tookus three months to get to talk to him;in all those days we tried and did not

manage we did not give up, recalled

Lucy. Eventually when we got totalk to him; we explained that we aremembers o a group o persons withpsychosocial disability and neededto benet rom the CDF just like anyother person in the constituency.

Currently there are our children inhigh school that have benetted romthe bursaries rom the CDF whoseparents are persons with psychosocialdisabilities in the support group. AliceWanjirus son beneted rom thebursary. She is a casual labourer andsaid that she was very happy that shehad got a break rom begging teachersnot to send her son home because olack o school ees.

EMPLOYMENT

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dditionally, the support grouphas been able to advocate orthree o their members to get

casual employment at the town councilservices.

Agnes Wangechi, the chairlady o thesupport group in Karatina is happyo the strides they have made and isgrateul that USPKenya has investedtime in training them on human rights.She says that now in the communitymany people accept their membersas persons with disability as opposedto a while back when all they couldthink o when they saw them was

that these were mad people. She isalso happy that even the government,through the Member o Parliament,the CDF, the town council and eventhe doctors in charge at the district


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hospital are also gradually respectingtheir human rights while at the sametime promoting their inclusion withinthe amily and community system aspersons with disabilities.

Mechanisms ofaddressing abuse withinthe community set-up

Te support group has encountered

cases where members are abusedthrough violence in their homesby virtue o having a psychosocialdisability. Te group has embraced adialogue model in these cases wherethey pay a visit to the aected homesand dialogue with the amily membersto understand the origin o violence onthe aected person. Tey involve thelocal authority and the church in suchcases. Te approach is not to blame theabusers, but to understand why they

resort to violence and helping them torespect the human rights and inherentdignity o persons with mental healthconditions.

Changes in interaction

Te ofcials o the support groupacknowledge that so much haschanged among members as a resulto continued interaction betweenmembers and receiving training romUSPKenya.

For example Andrew Kimondo, anofcial in the group, says that initiallywhen caregivers came to the groupmany did not know how to live withthe aected person; how to handlethem when in a crisis; but with time,as he sees it, they have some sense odirection; o how to handle and careor their loved ones.

Te area being in the town, Andrew saysthat now there are ew people loiteringin the streets as a result o them beingunwell. Even in the support groupitsel, some o the members initiallyused to be a little unsure but Andrew

asserts that with time; there is a lotmore awareness o what is expectedo them, and there is a willingness tolearn and understand their conditions.

THE FUTURE

For the support group; measuresto keep going strong are evidentrom the ofcials willingness

to run the support group and thecommitment o the members. Tegroup has a bank account.

Members contribute Ksh. 100 on amonthly basis which is deposited tothe group bank account. Te ofcialsare responsible or operating theaccount within the mandate given bythe members.

Te peer support group is alsoseeking other ways o ensuring thesustainability o the support group.

Tis will be realized through theollowing key strategies:

Te group is currently submittingproposals to the National Councilor Persons with Disability, the CDFand Njaa Maruuku (Governmentagricultural programme to eliminatehunger).

Te group is also consideringapplying or unds rom the WomenEnterprise Fund since the majority

o the members are women. Tey arealso members o a Community BasedOrganization (CBO) which consistso other sel help groups within the

constituency. Te main purpose o theCBO is in order or the constituent

members to have leverage in undraising at the grassroots level and alsoprovide an opportunity or grassrootsorganizations to network with eachother.


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County Level(Non-Governmental Organization)

Donor organizationat the constituency level

Donor organizationat the constituency level

Constituency level(Community based organization)

Ward Level(Karatina MentalHealth Group)

Ward Level(Grassrootsorganization)

Ward Level(Grassrootsorganization)

Te CBO is also a member o a Non-Governmental Organization which is coordinating activities at the county level.

A thank you to the partnersUSPKenya expresses gratitude to the Open Society Foundation through its Disability Rights Initiative or their technical andnancial support that has enabled us to create a vibrant grassroots movement in our counties in Kenya.It is wonderul to be part o a bigger cause o promoting vibrant and tolerant democracies.


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Pictorial Section

MembersoftheKi

ambuCountySup

portGroup

Members o the Nyeri County Support group

NyeriCountySup

portGroup

NairobiCountySupportGroup

Te our counties


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Users and Survivorsof Psychiatry in Kenya.(USPKenya)

P.O. Box 10071 00100Nairobi Kenya.el: 0722 884565Email: [email protected]: www.uspkenya.com

D-Store Media 0720 944279

Membersfrom

allthecounties

inatrainingin

Nairobi

Michael Njenga conducting a home visit.

Michael Njenga addressing USPKenya members in Nyeri CountyNyeri county group meeting

Members o the Nakuru support group

Kenya Psychosocial Disability August 2013 Edition Newsletter

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Transcript of Kenya Psychosocial Disability August 2013 Edition Newsletter