Review workshop of Mental Health Self-help Group Operating Guideline

A review workshop of ‘Mental health self-help group operating guideline’ was held on 27th June, 2018 at Avocado Cafe, Baluwatar. The objective of this workshop was to present the first draft of the guideline and finalize it through incorporation of feedback received from the participants. A total of 24 participants attended the meeting comprising government officials from Primary Health Care Revitalization Division (PHCRD), Policy, Planning and International Cooperation Division (PPICD) and National Health Training Center (NHTC) along with representatives from Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), World Health Organization (WHO), CMC Nepal, KOSHISH Nepal, CBM, Psychiatrists Association of Nepal, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Mental Hospital, Lagankhel and The School of Psychiatry.

This guideline was prepared by Primary Health Care Revitalization Division (PHCRD), Department of Health Services (DoHS), Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) for the involvement, better care and protection of right holders/survivors. The technical facilitation was done by TPO Nepal.

The workshop began with a brief presentation by Dr. Kamal Gautam, Deputy Executive Manager of TPO Nepal about the guideline, its objectives and content. After the presentation, feedback was collected through discussion session.

The main theme of the discussion was to empower the people living with mental illnesses through facilitation rather than bind them with rules and to assure the anonymity of the self-help groups. Lastly, Mr. Bhogendra Raj Dotel, Director of PHCRD thanked TPO Nepal for their hard work in the preparation of the guideline through community discussion and feedback collection as well as all the participants for their active participation.