Lack of public centres hampers drug rehabilitation initiatives
DRUG users in Bulawayo who seek to wean themselves off their addictions are unwilling to get admitted to Ingutsheni Psychiatric Hospital and are calling for rehabilitation specific public institutions that deal with drug addictions to be made available as they do not want the stigma associated with mental illness, it has been established.
This comes amid revelations that 70 percent of those in need of assistance are young and jobless graduates from the country’s colleges and universities who don’t have the means to pay for admission at private institutions.
Ingutsheni Psychiatric Hospital is the only known public facility in town that is available but has received a lot of negative perception due to the stigma associated with mental illness.
Clinical Director for Ingutsheni Psychiatric Dr Wellington Ranga said a lot of people shun the hospital as it admits people recovering from the mental conditions and those with drug problems do not want to be associated with mental illness, despite drug-induced psychosis being a form of mental illness.
The shortage of public institutions that offer help to drug addicts is a gap that is being exploited by enterprising citizens such as Mrs Carol Mashingaidze-Tapfumaneyi who has established the Mandipa Hope Rehabilitation Centre in Bulawayo. The name, she said, was inspired by her daughter Mandipa, who is very passionate about helping afflicted individuals.
“Mandipa Hope Rehabilitation Centre is a medical institution under Zimbabwe Institute of Drug and Alcohol combating which provides home-based care to individuals suffering from drug and substance abuse and any other mental health related problems. As an organisation, we have come across various mental health disorders such as substance-induced psychosis, bipolar, schizoaffective disorder, child delinquency disorder and more. The most common mental health disorders we have met are bipolar, schizophrenia and substance use disorder,” she said in an interview.
Mandipa Hope Rehabilitation Centre bridges the lack of institutions that offer rehabilitation gap and also offers counselling, psychiatric services, psychologist services, support groups, life coaching and occupational therapy among other things.
“When one is admitted there is an occupational therapist that comes to look at the patient to identify the type of health condition that they have because many tend to have other conditions that are detected when they come here despite being drug abusers. The drug users usually progress to get mental illnesses and are brought in for monitoring.
“A personal social worker is then assigned to the patient so that they get personal information about the patient to see what kind of a home they come from, what caused the drug problem and also to see where the patient can be discharged to once treated. They are then monitored for two months at the institution,” said Mrs
MashingaidzeTapfumaneyi.
A clinical psychologist comes on board for counselling sessions with the patient.
“Counselling is a social dialogue procedure between a professional practitioner and a client which helps in discovering the problems of the client and establishing the solutions to the social and behavioural problems faced by the patients. Family members are also called for counselling in order to collect authentic data to help the clients. Psychiatric services are administered by a medical practitioner in psychiatry who prescribes medication to the patients after a psychiatric evaluation has been done,” she added.
She said a patient would be assigned to a support group as part of their rehabilitation. A group of recovering addicts meet at an agreed time with the same agenda and problems to empower and motivate each other to improve their quality of life and cope with the existing challenges that they may face. Activities included are such as devotions, aerobics (exercises), gardening, mediation, educational classes, motivation, games and more.
There is also a life coach who helps to guide patients to reach their ultimate goals, through assisting the individuals in different areas of their life.
“Since every human being is different, their goals are also different. The life coach assists the individual
patients to realise their goals because sometimes they are admitted with no dreams anymore, no goals and we give them hope for the future also rebuilding their dreams,” said Mrs Mashingaidze -Tapfumaneyi.
She said most addicts were between the ages of 25 and 38 and more than 70 percent of them were young adults who were graduates from colleges and university who were jobless.
She however, encouraged parents and guardians who have children and loved ones faced with substance and alcohol abuse not to shun the available public institution as that was where they could get assisted.
“Ingutsheni is doing the best they can to assist the drug situation the city is faced with because the city and the country were caught unaware by the magnitude of this drug problem such that we were not ready for the amount of burden that we are faced with now. So Ingutsheni is taking over four times more than it should be doing at the moment, we have to appreciate the fact that there is actually a place that accepts people who need rehabilitation than if there was none at all. This drug abuse problem is actually growing more than what the Government can handle and there is a need for more rehabilitation centres to cater for more people who need the help,” she added.
The Mandipa Hope Rehabilitation Centre rehabilitation programme is for a period of three months depending on the individuals’ progress. The centre is also housing patients from as far as Harare as centres are overwhelmed already. –@ NyembeziMu