The Mpumalanga branch of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is making it its mission to raise awareness among traditional healers regarding the challenges mental health patients face.
As a result, a human rights capacity-building workshop for traditional healers’ organisations was recently held in White River.
According to Senzani Mahlangu, the provincial community projects coordinator for commission, this session was the first of many. “Traditional healers, who, like any other community-based organisations, are widely consulted by communities on the treatment of mental illness, are the primary target audience for this workshop. After learning that many people in various areas sought traditional healers before contacting medical specialists, we came to the conclusion that we needed to begin this campaign,” said Mahlangu.
Mahlangu explained White River was a strategic starting point due to the large number of traditional health facilitators who specialise in training up-and-coming traditional healers.
The programme’s goals are to educate participants on the signs and symptoms of common mental diseases and encourage participants to work closely with medical professionals in order to ensure that patients receive appropriate treatment for their illnesses.
As a consequence of this, “it is essential that those who practise healing are well-versed in recognising signs of mental illnesses such as depression, suicide, bipolar disorder and other related mental illnesses.”
Mahlangu said the workshop series, which is themed, “Promoting and Protecting Health Rights,” will be expanded to other parts of the province.
According to the commission’s findings, people with mental health illnesses were subjected to a wide range of human rights violations in many communities, including stigma and discrimination.
One of the participants, Gogo Joyce Makgowane, said: “I believe workshops such as these are essential because they educate healers to recognise indications of sickness that are unrelated to witchcraft or spirituality. This is an important skill for a healer to have.
“During the course of the training, we were encouraging each other and discussing ideas about how to manage patients suffering from mental health conditions without infringing on their rights.”
Another healer, Pree Nkuna, from Masoyi, agreed such workshops were important.
“Some healers don’t even bother to check on their patients to see how they’re doing. They continue to treat the patient without recognising that the illness could be caused by stress or depression,” Nkuna said.
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