Maplewoodians Bring Mental Health Care to Africa

"Many of you are aware that I recently started a new non-profit organization to help impoverished people in Africa with mental illnesses. We are called StrongMinds, and I’m proud to say that I am joined by several friends and colleagues, both in the U.S. and in Africa, who are volunteering their time to help us grow StrongMinds. Our small team is working together to help implement an innovative approach to battling the number one mental illness in Africa---major depression disorder, or more commonly referred to as just depression."

Mayberry notes that many think of mental health issues as Western or middle-class problems — as something that is not a primary obstacle facing Africans. However, Mayberry says that many Africans cannot even begin to tackle issues like poverty and economic development until they overcome depression. He posits the case of an African mother in the Congo who has five kids but battles with depression.

"She is frequently fatigued, finds it hard to concentrate, some days she can barely get out of bed, she is withdrawn from her community. She neglects her children, her spouse, and her enormous daily chores go unaccomplished, which leads to strife with her husband. She visits the local health clinic, but since they were untrained in mental health, she could not be helped. Her life will continue like this unless an organization like StrongMinds can find and help her."

StrongMinds will be employing Group Interpersonal Therapy (G-IPT), a proven and low-cost intervention. With support, StrongMinds initially will target the mental illness of depression in the DR Congo (DRC). "Our goal is to treat two million impoverished Africans by 2020," said Mayberry. "In the coming years, we will expand our services and treat additional mental illnesses in more countries."

The other Maplewoodians involved in the effort are Chamie Baldwin, Director of Communications: Michael Pankow, Director of Business Development; and Julia Ben-Asher, Summer Intern for Global Mental Health Research.

Baldwin is a branding expert and private consultant who has worked in the past with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and Ogilvy & Mather, among others. Pankow has 15 years of experience in the non-profit sector, notably with the HIV Law Project and Human Rights Watch. And Ben-Asher, though only an intern, became interested in global health while working at a children's orphanage hospital in Romania in 2010. She went on to work as a sleep-away camp counselor to children with HIV, cancer and sickle cell anemia for the next two summers.

Mayberry notes that just $75 can help diagnose and treat 10 Congolese suffering from depression.