Tag Archives: mental health

CONNECT Wellness Day

…promotion of holistic wellness and a drug and substance free Zim

BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA

There is need to have a holistic approach to health, as there are several issues that affect people, Netsai Risinamhodzi, Executive Director of CONNECT Zimbabwe Institute of Systemic Therapy has said.

Risinamhodzi revealed this at CONNECT Wellness Day which was held last Friday.

The Wellness Day was running the under the theme, “Holistic Harmony-Exploring the connection between mental, physical and emotional wellness.”

The Wellness Day also sought to emphasise on the importance of collaborations to fight drug and substance abuse.

“We have organised this day so that we ensure that the CONNECT community, the CONNECT family and even the CONNECT stakeholders are in good health, they are well all round.

“So when we talk about issues of wellness I have seen that many a times, we have bias towards one type of wellness over the other, but as CONNECT what we are saying is that we want all individuals, all families and all societies to be in good health and to be holistically well.

“As CONNECT we are well known on issues of mental wellness, issues of family wellness since we have mental health counsellors and family therapists, but what we are saying today is that we are not just concerned about family wellness or just about mental wellness.

“But we also are concerned about physical wellness, about financial wellness, about spiritual wellness and all these types of wellness. So today we have all these wellness services in one place,” said Risinamhodzi.

She added: “we want people to get access to physical wellness specialists, we want you to get access to social wellness specialists; we want you to get access to all these other professionals that are here so that you can be able to consult.

“We want people to be able to get expert advice, so that you can also be able to expose yourself to activities in an environment that will ensure your wellbeing is holistic.”

Risinamhodzi further stressed that the hope was for people to benefit and to get access to all the available services towards holistic wellness.

Winnet Manyadza, Clinic and Further Education Manager at CONNECT, also spoke on the rampant cases of drug and substance abuse, saying there is need for collaborations if we want to eliminate the scourge.

“We now have several cases of drug and substance abuse, be it amongst the girls, boys, men, women and even the older generation.

“So this issue really touches a lot on wellness because you will find that if someone is stressed, they may end up thinking of finding comfort in drugs or other substances for that moment.

“But then what will happen is that, people will end up getting addicted and at the end of the day, they won’t function normally as they should.

“There is also need to ensure that we have physical wellness so regular checkups are really important but then if someone has a habit of abusing drugs or other substances, it then means that the physical wellbeing is compromised.

“Socially drugs and substances disrupt a lot of things, because you may find out that someone who is addicted ends up being violent. Some of the people will end up disrupting the social environment, so social wellness is really important.

“On financial wellness; when someone is addicted, they will not think of the other important things in life but will just be thinking of buying drugs or substances; some people end up stealing things at the house so that they sustain the habit.

“So drugs and other substances are ruining quite a lot of things in our society so let’s join hands to fight this because it is now rampant,” said Manyadza.

The CONNECT Wellness Day was attended by several service providers much to the appreciation of members of the public who attended.

Organisation uses soccer to engage adolescents on critical health issues

Happy Ncube (second from left) with her colleagues

BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA

Grassroot Soccer, an organisation which was established over 20 years ago and has reached more than 18 million young people in over 60 countries, using soccer to address several health challenges.

The organisation which works through partnerships says it uses soccer as the hook because it’s the most popular and accessible sport in the world.

Adolescents have been helped in areas which include HIV and AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, mental health and gender based violence.

Happy Ncube, Partnerships Program Manager at Grassroot Soccer, further added that Africa where they have several successful projects, has the most engaged fan base.

“Soccer is a powerful tool that can teach many important life skills: resiliency, hard work, courage, trust, and teamwork.

“We use soccer games, metaphors and frameworks to engage young people around the most critical health challenges in their lives and teach them life-saving health skills.

“The GRS approach fuses soccer, health, role models, fun, and inspiration to drive meaningful and positive behaviour change,” she said.

She added that the power of soccer is used to equip young people with the much needed life-saving information, services, and mentorship they need to live healthier lives.

Ncube also revealed that GRS was founded in 2002 by Dr Tommy Clark and teammates Kirk Friedrich, Ethan Zohn, and Methembe Ndlovu.

It is said Tommy and his teammates had witnessed the devastating effects of HIV while playing professional soccer together in Zimbabwe.

“After watching friends die of AIDS, Tommy and his teammates recognized that soccer; a positive force in the community; could be used to engage adolescents to stop the spread of HIV,” added Ncube.

She added that over the past 20 plus years, the organisation has evolved to take an integrated approach to adolescent health, recognizing the interconnectedness of young people’s most pressing health challenges such sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, and mental health.

“GRS looks at adolescent health issues in an integrated way; the relationship between HIV treatment and depression.

“Since 2002, we have grown from an initial cohort of 14 trained GRS Coaches to a global network of more than 13,000.

“We’ve reached more than 18 million young people in over 60 countries. GRS reached over 4 million youth in 2022 with health and life skills programs and services through our unique in-person SKILLZ interventions, digital platforms, and SKILLZ Magazines,” she revealed.

She added that locally “we are working through partners covering the whole of Zimbabwe.”

It was also revealed that through community-based organisations, international none governmental organisations, national and local governments, they have managed to reach more adolescents.

Ncube also revealed that through their interventions, GRS participants are three times more likely to test for HIV and get on treatment, resulting in 20 times fewer new HIV infections.

“GRS female participants are two times more likely to use modern contraception, resulting in 2/3 times fewer unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal deaths.

“GRS male participants are 10 times more likely to undergo voluntary male medical circumcision (which reduces HIV transmission), resulting in 11 times fewer new HIV infections.

“GRS achieved a 96 percent reduction in clinically significant depression symptoms amongst youth living with HIV who completed GRS’s Coach-led group therapy in Zambia.

“After completing GRS’s new mental health-enhanced sexual and reproductive health program in South Africa, female program participants were 24 percent more likely to identify local sources of support for challenges with mental health and alcohol.

“MindSKILLZ participants in Kenya demonstrated a 48 percent reduction in stigmatizing beliefs about mental health,” she added.