Mental Health, A Gargantuan Failure

– Shm Programs Will Help

Our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions- that time has surely passed. There is No Health without Mental Health. Where mental health concerns, are ignored, a country’s broader health inevitably is impacted. And when voices are disregarded, or cannot be heard, our country’s commitment to democracy can only be called into doubt.

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking Ghana.

It is not a new insight that mental health and psychosocial problems must be addressed if schools are to function satisfactorily and if students are to learn and perform effectively. The introduction of School Mental Health programs (SHM) will reduce barriers to student learning, unmatched access to youth, and to engage youth in an array of strategies that can simultaneously address their educational, emotional, behavioral, and developmental needs. In addition, SMH programs can reduce stigma, enhance the generalization and maintenance of interventions, increase opportunities for preventive services, and promote efficiency and productivity of staff and programs.

Mr. Godfred Korley, Program Manager at For All Africa Foundation (FAAF),ngo, believes that, mental health programs in schools should not be viewed as a separate agenda from the instructional mission. In terms of policy, practice, and research, it is more fruitful to see mental health as embedded in the continuum of interventions that comprise a comprehensive, integrated component for addressing barriers and enhancing health development and learning. Mr. Korley said, once policy makers recognize the essential nature of such a component, it should be easier to weave together all efforts to address barriers and, in the process, elevate the status of programs to enhance health development.

The Executive Director of FAAF, Mr. James Sanahene, believes, achieving the promise calls for an approach that connects policy, training, practice, and research on mental health services and that improves behavioral, emotional, and academic functioning of youth.

It is clear from analyses of current policy and practice that no cohesive policy vision exists, and pupil services and school health programs do not have high status in the educational hierarchy and in current health and education policy initiatives. Given the relatively low policy priority, it is not surprising so little has been done at any administrative level to create the type of vision, leadership, and organizational structure necessary for integrating pupil services into schools in a comprehensive way.

With a view to enhancing understanding and resolution of mental disorders, FAAF would like to ask reformers to quickly introduce mental health programs in schools. This we believe will help for purposes of early intervention, treatment, crisis intervention and prevention and also to foster positive social and emotional development.