After a successful first ever MENTAL HEALTH SUMMIT held by Restored Hope Zambia, we wanted to share a report of this event to capture the core of the highly qualified knowledge and skills that were shared. Firstly, it is worth noting that this was initially a training opportunity for Restored Hope Zambia through our Scottish partnership with Restored Hope Zambia UK, but we wanted to ensure more people could benefit from this learning opportunity, so we expanded it into a Summit to equip individuals and organisations with trauma-informed practices and mental health awareness in Zambia.
The summit took place from 21st to 23rd November 2024 at Southern Sun Ridgeway Hotel and Taj Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka, Zambia, and brought together a diverse group of professionals from across the mental health industry and other key stakeholders. The Summit had 150 attendees across three days including 11 participating organisations.
Over the course of three days, participants had the opportunity to engage in a variety of sessions, including group discussions. Day one marked the start of the summit with opening and welcoming remarks from Lois Sikwenda, one of the Restored Hope Zambia’s advisory board members.
Joy Gillespie from Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland (SOHTIS) facilitated a highly engaging session throughout the day with a focus on TRAFFICKING AWARENESS and the different dynamics that pertain to human trafficking across a number of nations. Her training covered the understanding of what human trafficking is, its scale and how to identify signs of it in a workplace and other spaces. Throughout the discussions, participants were able to highlight areas of attention in the Zambian context, and the opportunities to address human trafficking in collaboration with existing stakeholders and the public.
On Day two of the Summit, Aileen Fleming facilitated various aspects of trauma with an emphasis on CREATING PLACES OF SAFETY FROM TRAUMA. She explored the consequences of traumatic experiences on a person’s physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being, and helped participants consider the therapeutic environment that helps facilitate recovery.
On the Final Day, it was an honour to have Dr Francisca Bwalya, the Mental Health Coordinator in the Ministry of Health Zambia. During her address to the participants, she cited how the ministry is pleased with the work that Restored Hope Zambia is doing in tackling church abuse and trauma particularly within Faith communities, raising awareness, training leaders and advocating for safeguarding institution reforms.
She also highlighted that one of the ministry’s key areas of focus for 2025 is to work with faith communities. She noted their access to many vulnerable people, some of whom may have poor mental health and who may reach out to their church or faith community for help in moments of crisis.
Mark Fleming the Director and founder of Positive Mental Health Scotland concluded the Summit with an engaging and deeply motivating session on MENTAL HEALTH. He addressed the area of suicide intervention, facilitated a discussion on depression, anxiety and their symptoms. In the session on Mental Health Awareness, Mark engaged the participants in what mental health is and how it affects us. He later on discussed issues that surround self-injury and finally how to have positive mental health.
The feedback from across all 3 days was overwhelmingly positive with many attendees highlighting they will be going back to their communities and sharing their learning.
FEEDBACK FROM ATTENDEES
“The training helped me understand that mental health is something we should be free to talk about. It also revealed that we all could be victims of mental illness be it via trauma, depression, stress or anxiety”.
“The training taught me how to spot signs of Human Trafficking, and that it takes the whole community to traffic someone and it takes the same community to recover them”.
“I learned that our traumatic experiences can affect our physical health and hence stopping us from functioning normally, which might affect our daily lives and how we live with people around us in our homes and workplaces.”
“Attending the Mental Health Summit by Restored Hope Zambia was an incredibly transformative experience. What I found most valuable about the training was its focus on practical solutions to address Human Trafficking, Trauma and mental health challenges within our communities… I left feeling inspired and empowered to continue my work in mental health advocacy, particularly in addressing youth mental health challenges and shaping policies that ensure accessible and affordable mental health care for all.”
It is encouraging to see such feedback. Many attendees also shared that they hope for more training like this in future and for the recorded sessions and handouts to be made available to a wider audience. In light of this, we are working on making the recorded sessions available and will share this in due course.
ATTENDANCE
Finally, we want to highlight the organisations that proactively engaged with the Summit: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Community Development and Social Welfare, Council of Churches in Zambia, Freely in Hope, Legacy Family Counselling Centre, Kamana Maternal Health Initiative, Mind Changers Pals 4 Life, One Collective, Flying Mission Zambia, Blissful Minds Counselling And Wellness Centre and Victorious Life Chaplains (Sports Chaplaincy Zambia).
May this be just the beginning of collaboration and sharing of knowledge in the area of Mental Health.
