BeautifulMind

Innovation in Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support in East Africa

(1) BeautifulMind addresses the lack of Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) service providers in low-resource countries and the prevalence of mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, addiction and violence through targeted training, awareness-raising and capacity-building. According to Global Health Estimates by the World Health Organization (2017), "Depressive disorders led to a global total of over 50 million Years Lived with Disability (YLD) in 2015. More than 80% of this non-fatal disease burden occurred in low- and middle-income countries." Globally, depressive disorders are ranked as the single largest contributor to non-fatal health loss (WHO/MSD/MER/2017.2, © World Health Organization 2017). 

(2) Our theory of change is premised on the notion that the coalescence of body and mind that makes up a human being, is integral to the individual's whole health and healing and thus the health and well-being of families and communities. This is in line with the increasing awareness of the need for an integrated approach to physical and mental health, reflected in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the efforts of the World Health Organization together with the International Medical Corps (IMC) to take an integrated bodymind approach in humanitarian action. Our solution involves both a philosophical approach as well as a practical training package: we develop trainings and consultancies and provide individual and group counseling, drawing on indigenous, mainstream and alternative approaches to mental health and well-being including BodyMind Expressive Arts such as painting, sculpture, dance, yoga and music. 

(3) BeautifulMind and BodyMind Expressive Arts are low-tech and easily scaleable with a wide potential for a global impact through training and increased awareness of the importance of an integrated approach to physical and mental health and well-being. The BodyMind Expressive Arts approach is being piloted by several international and East African partners, such as Pronto International (Seattle, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Kilimanjaro Initiative (Nairobi, funded by the UNFCU) and the Nisela Group, a Nairobi-based Social Enterprise focused on Children's Mental Health. The BodyMind Approach was presented by BeautifulMind at the forthcoming Fifth Global Summit on Mental Health in Johannesberg in February 2018. BeautifulMind is expanding its activities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, beginning with a planned Training Workshop on Expressive Arts for Violence Prevention in Schools, targeted toward Public School Teachers and Social Workers in Cairo (Egypt), in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, Cairo in November 2018.  

BeautifulMind is a new application of an existing technology, namely the use of traditional arts as a therapeutic tool. It is innovative as it calls into question the separation of physical and mental health. BeautifulMind calls for an integrated Bodymind Approach that takes into consideration the whole physical, mental and spiritual health of the individual with practical trainings using expressive arts. This resonates from the individual to the family, tribe, community, nation and beyond through a sharing of experience and knowledge on the importance of attaining psychological and emotional balance through Bodymind Expressive Arts. 

BeautifulMind is a low-tech, low-cost approach that is widely accessibly and easily scaleable. We make use of technology in sharing experience, photos, videos and training materials through our re-designed website (http://rohnerdesign.com/client...) and social media (https://www.facebook.com/JENGA...). The BodyMind Expressive Arts materials used in our training workshops are also low-cost, readily available and low-tech. 

(1) To launch our new website (1 July 2018);

(2) To expand our activities from East Africa to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region (Nov 2018);

(3) To develop a training pilot on Conflict Transformation in Schools in Austria and Switzerland (Sept 2018); 

(4) To advance the dialogue on Relationships, Sexuality and Gender through the JENGA VI International Training Workshop in Nairobi (Feb 2019);

(5) To hold the first meeting of the BeautifulMind Advisory Board (Feb 2019); and 

(6) To develop a nation-wide curriculum for universities in Kenya on BodyMind Expressive Arts (June 2019).

Our vision is to gradually hand over the day to day operations to our  East African Directors, while maintaining a hub in Zurich (Switzerland) in order to expand our activities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region and India. We also are developing a pilot project in Europe (Austria and Switzerland) on Training Modules for Conflict and Violence Prevention in Schools using BodyMind Expressive Arts and a Certificate Programme to Train Student Mediators. 

Our solution is mainly deployed through our international training programmes developed by JENGA: The East Africa Psycho-Social Network, the training arm of BeautifulMind. Trainings are targeted for mental health practitioners (psychologists, psychiatrists, art therapists, drug counselors, school counselors, church counselors, etc.). We have held 5 annual training workshops in Kenya since 2014 and a Roundtable Discussion in Uganda in 2013 (see http://rohnerdesign.com/client...). Communities can access our training, materials and know-how through our website and social media page, as well as the MHPSS.net website and the Newsletter of the Movement for Global Mental Health ( http://www.globalmentalhealth....)

Our population has heretofore been MHPSS practitioners and students of psychology in the East Africa Region. We are now expanding to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as well as to India. Counting all previous JENGA Workshops in Nairobi from 2014-2018 and the Roundtable Discussion in Uganda in 2013 we have reached directly 170 trainees in 6 years of events. Each practitioner shares experience with his or her patients, clients, students, colleagues and family so that we can say our views and trainings are shared among several hundreds of users of our website, facebook page and workshops. 

We can expect to serve a population of 1000 in the next 12 months, especially in expanding our activities to the MENA and South Asia regions as well as in Europe (Austria and Switzerland). This could easily expand by 2021 to a reach of 2000-3000 mental health practitioners, students of psychology, counselors, schools, churches, governments and civil society through our training workshops, website, social media platforms and related newsletters and publicity. 

We are a team of five psychologists from Germany, USA/France, Kenya and Malawi, two PhD candidates, two MA candidates and one MA/Diploma from the CG Jung Institute of Analytical Psychology. We are trained in mental health, psycho-social support, art therapy, drug counseling and school counseling. We also have expertise in Expressive Arts, Children and Adolescent Psychology, Sandplay Therapy and Dream Analysis. Three of our Directors are working in schools, one runs a separate business in Kenya and one has a Psychotherapy practice in Zurich.

Our revenue model has been until now based on revenue from services provided, i.e., income from training workshops and some sales of related merchandise (yoga mats, t-shirts). We received one donation of 1500 USD in 2016 and received 30 donated yoga mats in 2015 from a company in the UK. We did a crowd-funding campaign in 2017 and received 1000 USD. Aside from that we have received no funding from outside sources. We believe we are positioned for long-term sustainability based on the resonance and applicability of our ideas which stay ahead of the curve and remain relevant for practitioners. However, profitability is problematic and we may consider becoming a non-profit or Community Based Organization in future to be able to attract funding. 

As mentioned, we have had success in attracting MHPSS practitioners for our international training workshops, but not for our counseling or our consultancy services. Since four of our five directors are psychologists and art therapists but not business people, we have had problems in turning a profit. Perhaps the mentoring, assessment and evaluation expertise provided by SOLVE could help us advance our work and profitability. 

As mentioned above we are working mainly on a fee for service basis and have not managed to attract external funding. Advice on accessing financial resources, sustainability and profitability would be helpful as well as on monitoring, budgeting and assessment of results.