GYC Africa 2024 Conference: ONE

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GYC Africa

Mental Health

Rose Misati

Mental Health 1

I don't know who I might have interacted with before.

OK, we are going to talk about matters mental health.

Going to start to talk about mental health issues this morning.

Then we have another session in the afternoon.

And I would like to ask how many people know somebody who is living with a mental health condition or somebody who has suffered a mental health condition?

You know someone, maybe it's suicide, maybe depression, anxiety, you know someone?

How many people have suffered from a mental health condition at 1 time or another?

How many people in their families, they are caregivers?

Maybe a brother, sister, mother, father, uncle, auntie, you know, somebody, a family member.

I also know that there are some of us who may not have raised their hands because probably you do not know that what you've been struggling with is a mental health condition.

Statistics show that in Kenya, 1 out of 10 people have a mental health condition, 1 out of 10 people.

But the number of people who are able to even access medical care in Kenya is way below.

So the very people who are not even able to access medical care are the ones who need mental health services.

So when we talk about 1 out of 10, that is just the minority, that diagnosis is made among the minority who are able to access mental health conditions.

According to the World Health Organization, they say that in Kenya and other developing countries, the mental health gap is 80%.

Out of 10 people, only 2 can access mental health services, meaning they can access a counselor, therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, whoever, only 2 out of 10 people.

So you can Imagine even when we are saying 1 out of 10, we're only talking of the 2 who are able to access mental health services.

And the ones who really need mental health services, they are not able to reach out and get the services.

So I want us to make this presentation very relatable, because sometimes we talk about mental health conditions and then you are thinking about those people who are mad, walking on the road, removing clothes.

And yet there are many of us who are living with mental health conditions undiagnosed and treated.

Even living with family members with mental health conditions are diagnosed and treated.

They continue suffering and even the families keep suffering.

Father, in the most wonderful name of Jesus, we thank you for this opportunity.

We pray that you may speak to us, for we are listening.

The Bible says in the book of Philippians, I know it's a very familiar text, Philippians chapter 4, verse 6 to, I will read to 7 now.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and your mind through Christ Jesus.

Paul was writing this to the Philippians and he was consciously aware, he was aware that the Philippians, Karibu, they are likely to experience anxiety.

And many of us could have suffered with anxiety at any 1 point or another, yet we didn't even know what it is that we are experiencing.

Like currently, there's so much happening in our country And I don't know how many people have found themselves anxious, like you don't know about tomorrow.

You know, you don't know what's going to happen.

Today, you are here, then tomorrow people are dying.

People are dying, maybe people you know, and you're asking yourself, will I really, like, will I be alive tomorrow?

I don't know that you've experienced that.

And then it's very, it happens sometimes, it can be very persistent.

So, but really what are mental health conditions?

Karibu, so that we can get to understand.

It's not like the way somebody says headache, stomachache.

We have the less severe, we have the more severe.

They range from anxiety, depression, panic disorder, eating disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar, schizoaffective.

On the extreme end, we have the most severe.

You know the ones you can say now somebody has lost touch with reality.

That is the extreme end, schizophrenia, bipolar, schizoaffective.

But then we have on this other end, anxiety, depression, panic disorder.

If we did a screening here, which I don't want to do because if I did and I told you you are depressed, I need to give you medical care here.

If we did a screening here, it's possible that some of us have been living with depression and we actually may think that it's normal or maybe with anxiety, panic, and we think it's normal.

So the mental illnesses affect your mood, your thinking, and your behavior, your mood, the way you feel.

Life cannot always be rainbow and roses and chocolate, but we were not created to be more sad than happy.

We were created to be more happy than sad.

So we need to have moments, more moments of happiness than moments of sadness.

But there are people who are generally negative, like in almost everything.

Sometimes you even dread being with them because you're like this dark cloud, you know, there's just a dark cloud.

So because maybe they are struggling with a mental health condition.

I'm not giving you the sign so that you can diagnose anyone, because people go to school for close to 10 years to be able to diagnose mental health conditions.

And it's not for you to use it on another person, but it's just for you to maybe focus inward.

I've said we were created to be more happy than sad.

But if you find that you're excessively sad, you have trouble sleeping, or you're tired most of the time.

Kuna watu amechoka tu, yani unapata mtu amechoka asubui, whatever, tired most of the time.

Strong feelings of anger or irritability.

There are people who excuse, they say, I am angry because I have a temper.

You know, you just think that it is normal that way.

Excessive worries or fears, excessive fears and worries.

You can also have people having suicidal thoughts.

Suicidal thoughts can even be like someone says, I just wish I could sleep and never wake up.

They may not be saying exactly like I want to die or kill myself, but somebody imagines like maybe if I can just be walking and this vehicle runs over me and I'm gone, you know.

They imagine like it's not that they really want to die, but the pain is so much they want it to be over.

There can be extreme mood swings, extreme mood swings.

1 moment somebody's happy, the next moment someone is sad and you really cannot explain why they're that way.

Hallucinations is whereby someone is seeing things that don't exist.

Like somebody can be telling you there's a demon, there's a demon, you know, I'm seeing demons.

And here now is where as Christians, sometimes you will find that people confuse these things a lot.

You know, like sometimes we are not even able to tell what is it, the difference between, it's demon possession and we'll talk about this.

It's demon possession, someone can see, Some people even say, I slept, I saw an angel, I saw what.

Mental Health 2

I would want to know before we talk about the topic for the afternoon, I mean it's related anyway, I don't know if there's anybody here who had a concern or a question in the morning that we were not able to get to.

Maybe there's something you want to get out of the way.

You may even have reflected over RIT at lunchtime and you want to talk about it, because mental health, it's a wide topic.

So we are just touching the tip of the iceberg.

And I think it's good when I hear from you, I can know the area that you would want me to talk about something that is going to be very practical, that is going to benefit you.

Anybody maybe has anything they want to get out of the way?

Perhaps I can just talk about, oh yeah, yeah, please go ahead.

In fact, we were even talking about it over lunch hour with the other facilitators, And it's a mental health issue as well.

And we were saying how it's so difficult for a church and even as families for us to unpack.

But like for me, I have handled so many cases and even people who are married, LGBTQ, who come and they need help.

And I know that you've asked a good question in terms of how does it relate to a healthy family?

You know, is it the case when you're raised in a certain family setup, is that the case, you know?

Because I know at some point when I was talking about it in a church, and it was streamed live on Facebook and I think on YouTube, people called me demonic.

Even for you, they don't even talk about it.

But I know in our family life, the resource packet, if you go to the resource packet for the family life week in April, 1 of the seminars we were meant to do in our churches was on homosexuality.

I don't know whether any of your church they tackled it.

There was a seminar material like that because they were saying it's something we can no longer bury our heads under the sand.

So I will be very happy to talk about it at the end.

What we want to talk about on this part, then we can now generally talk about any arising issues.

So we were talking about how to help somebody who is living with a mental illness or maybe they have a mental illness, it can be a family member, it can be a friend.

Because especially if it's a family member, like a partner.

First of all, let me even, before I go there, if now, because all of you are young people, if you are a young person and you have somebody struggling with a mental health issue, they're going through a mental health crisis, that is not the time for you to propose to them.

That is not the time to approach them for a relationship, because at that point, they are vulnerable.

If somebody is struggling with their mental health, that's not the time for you to marry them so that you can take care of them.

Please let us move out of evangelistic marriages.

You do not, you know, marrying somebody who is struggling with a crisis, it's like going to ICU, you get somebody from, I'm speaking in Swahili, you get somebody from hospital and you are marrying them.

At that point, they need therapy, they need psychiatric help.

Do not, I know people have made such mistakes.

When somebody's going through a mental health crisis, that's when you approach them, because they're very vulnerable.

At that point, you know, they are looking at you as a carer.

You're a caregiver, you're not an equal partner, okay?

So maybe they will get well and not be satisfied with their marriage.

Or When they get out of that role of needing you, you will have a problem because they needed you.

The dynamics of the relationship will change.

Many people approach me and they say, oh, I know this lady, I know this gentleman.

He's so good, he's so godly, but he's struggling with alcoholism.

It is not fair for you to marry a patient.

You don't commit to marrying somebody at that point, OK?

But if already it's a family member, maybe you're married to them, maybe they are your sibling or whatever, it is you, the 2 of you, or you as a family versus the problem.

It's not about you bringing problems here, so you have to approach it as a team.

Because even when people reach out for mental health services, even families need therapy.

Because when you have somebody struggling, you, all of you struggle, okay?

And then it's important to communicate openly and honestly.

In a lot of our families, We don't discuss issues.

Someone came, they were drunk, they insulted everybody, broke things.

Tomorrow, we just want to behave like nothing happened.

No, you have to go back and talk about it openly and clearly and just say, you know, the last time you did this and this is how I felt.

It's not that you're being less loving when you're talking about it.

Do not become an enabler or don't become a doormat.

An enabler is somebody who, I don't want to use the same word enablers, somebody who supports a person to do what they are doing, which is not healthy for them, it's not healthy for the rest of the family.

By far, most families I come across, people are enablers.

Let me give you an example of what an enabler does.

If somebody has a mental health issues, maybe an addiction, what enablers do, they will give the person money to go and drink.

Or when the person comes late, they open for them, they prepare food for them.

If they soil themselves, they vomit, they clean up after them.

They came late, they cannot go to work, they call work and they lie for them.

They say they are sick, That's why they can't come to work.

Because maybe they are afraid of their job ending and what what.

They allow a person to live in a place where they are not paying rent, they are not buying food and this is an adult.

So they are giving them a place to live without holding them accountable.

They maybe become violent and the person does not put a boundary.

You don't allow yourself to be hurt by anybody.

So if somebody is physically hurting you, you cannot stay with them in the same house.

If you continue staying, that's enabling.

So it's to say I love you so much, but when you drink or when you have a relapse and you hurt me, I am sorry.

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Mental Health

Mental Health 1

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Mental Health 1

1h 16m

Mental Health 2

1h 31m

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