Featured Story: Friendship Bench - opening the mind to finding solutions

CREATING SAFE SPACES TO TALK

SHARE LIVED EXPERIENCES AND CONNECT PEOPLE TO SUPPORT

WORKING TO ENHANCE MENTAL WELLBEING AND IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE

TAKING MENTAL HEALTH GLOBALLY ONE COMMUNITY AT A TIME

FRIENDSHIP BENCH project is an evidence-based intervention developed in Zimbabwe to bridge the mental health treatment gap. Our mission is to enhance mental well-being and improve quality of life through the use of problem solving therapy delivered by trained lay health workers. We focus on people who are suffering from common mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression- known locally as kufungisisa (THINKING TOO MUCH).

We are not conventional; our therapy rooms are outdoors under trees & our therapists are elderly Zimbabwean women. These women are city lay health workers who have become known as 'community grandmothers'.

OPENING THE MIND Kuvhura Pfungwa

This phrase refers to the therapeutic process by which, through asking questions, clients are encouraged to open their minds to identify their problems, choose one to work on, identify a feasible solution, and agree on an action plan guided by the lay health workers. READ MORE...

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SOURCE: FRIENDSHIP BENCH