_edited.png){kind=small}
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Community engagement strategies can create safe and inclusive spaces that will promote dialogue, reduce stigma, and empower individuals with resources and support.
COMMUNITY LED
Collaborate with Ghanaian community organizations, churches, and cultural associations and other health professionals within the community to co-create mental health initiatives, ensuring they reflect community values like collectivism and familial support.
INVOLVING TRUSTED COMMUNITY FIGURES
Ghanaians often rely on faith-based and traditional healers for mental health support due to cultural familiarity and stigma around formal services.
Train Ghanaian pastors, imams, and community elders in the U.S. to recognize mental health signs, provide basic psychoeducation, and refer individuals to professional services
PEER-LED
In Ghana, peer-led self-help groups have been shown to change attitudes toward mental health. Clinicians can empower individuals and community/religious leaders to develop Ghanaian peer support groups in U.S. cities with significant Ghanaian populations where members share experiences, provide mutual encouragement, and link peers to local mental health resources.
STIGMA REDUCTION THROUGH EDUCATION
Host workshops in Ghanaian churches or community centers, using relatable language (Twi, Fante, Ga,etc) and narratives to frame mental health as a common, treatable issue, drawing on evidence-based psychoeducation models.
Avoid terms like "mental illness" or "madness" and instead use phrases like "emotional well-being" or "mental strength.
Harrison, a Ghanaian-American, describes his experience learning about mental health in a community setting.