By Godwill Arthur-Mensah/Rita Adjeley Adjei, GNA
Accra, Oct. 19, GNA - Besstel Child and Adult Psychiatric Foundation, a charity organisation interested in the welfare of mental patients on Friday launched a mental health awareness campaign to educate the public on mental health issues and how to seek medical attention.
The Foundation announced that it would soon embark on a two-week mental health awareness campaign in Greater Accra and Central regions to improve the standard of mental healthcare in the country.
The campaign would be held at separate venues, including the Black Stars Square in Accra on October 27, Victoria Park, Cape Coast on October 28 and Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital on October 29.
Addressing journalists at a news briefing in Accra on Friday ahead of the Campaign, Madam Stella Nutakor, the Founder and Chief Director of the Foundation, said mental health was about offering optimal and quality care to people suffering from mental challenges, instead of stigmatising and leaving them on the streets.
She announced plans to establish an assessment centre to enable individuals experiencing mental health challenges to access emotional and psychological assistance, which formed part of the Foundation’s vision and mission to improve the standard of mental healthcare in Ghana.
She said the Foundation solicited support from some volunteers in UK, who were specialists in occupational therapy, pharmacy and food nutrition as well as experts in mental health investigations working at the National Health Service, East London Foundation Trust, to carry out various sensitisations during the Campaign.
She explained that the volunteers would also educate the public on how to use nutrition to manage mental health challenges and offer guidance on the appropriate usage of medication to manage stress and mental complications.
Madam Nutakor called for collaborative support from both public and private corporate institutions to make the awareness creation a success and observed that a lot of people in top management positions were undergoing stress and could not enjoy quality sleep.
Therefore, she said it was imperative to offer assistance to them so that they would enjoy quality life.
Madam Nutakor said she left Ghana for the United Kingdom at age 14 and on her return to the country, a few years ago; she was disheartened about the poor condition of mental healthcare standards in the country.
In view of that, she established the Foundation in March this year to galvanise support for mental healthcare.
Meanwhile, Marianne Bolton, an Occupational Therapist, Hilda Blankson, a Food Nutritionist, Susana Fontela, a Pharmacist, all volunteers from the NHS East London Foundation Trust, took turns to express their readiness to support the awareness creation campaign.
Madam Blankson, the Food Nutritionist from the NHS, East London Trust, who is a Volunteer with the Foundation, stated that food and nutritional value was an essential factor in managing mental health challenges, saying;”Food is also very important in helping a mental health patient, therefore some foods are not supposed to be overcooked so as to maintain the minerals and vitamins’’.
Mr Bessa Simons, a renowned Afro-Highlife Musician, who is a Co-director of the Foundation, said while growing up, there were people in society who behaved strangely and often did not understand their conditions.
However, he said when he grew up; he got to understand their conditions and therefore, advised families whose relatives were undergoing mental health challenges to send them to the appropriate health facility for prompt attention, instead of leaving them on the street at the mercy of the weather.
GNA
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