Heartsounds Uganda (HSU)

Über uns

Heartsounds Uganda (HSU) was established in 2009 in Uganda from an inspiration visit of East London Heartsounds Group. Heartsounds Uganda (HSU) is a mental health service user-led Community-Based Organization (CBO), registered with Kampala Capital City Authority. We work towards complementing the mental health system (family and community support among other services), to have a holistic approach towards the management of mental illness for successful recovery of those suffering, enabling them to re-gain a meaning to life again.

Heartsounds Uganda aims to end the stigma associated with mental health disorders by building a sense of belonging. Isolation is often an unspoken side-effect of a mental illness. The Heartsounds organisation works to combat seclusion by forming new networks for those diagnosed with mental health issues. It is a company built by people with common experiences, all sharing their stories about treatment and the obstacles faced in daily life. This coping mechanism aids recovery and the complications of living with a mental illness. By interacting with Peer Support Workers, who themselves have overcome mental health issues, and confronting similar obstacles, members of Heartsounds Uganda gain sense of self-discovery, confidence, stability, and hope.

Objectively, HSU works to:
• Raise awareness to the community on mental health issues
• Defend and advocate for the dignity of service users (mental health patients and psychiatry survivors)
• Uphold the UN conventions on rights and dignity of persons with disabilities (UN CRPD) as far as mental health service users are concerned
• Offer complementary support to mental health service users in form of peer support
• Protect HSU members from stigma and discrimination
• Establish social-networking service center(s)

Services offered:
• Awareness raising
• Psychosocial rehabilitation
• Policy, legislation & rights advocacy

Projects:
Peer Support service at Butabika Hospital: Heartsounds Uganda engages a new cadre of lay mental health worker called peer support workers (PSWs). PSWs are “experts by experience” who are empowered to take an active role in the provision of mental health care by supporting and advising fellow service users and their families. Key features of this innovation include:
• Training of PSWs using innovative narrative methods
• Allocation of clients on a geographic basis, allowing PSWs to visit clients at home
• Engagement of families and provision of psychoeducation by PSWs
• Participation of PSWs in outpatient and some inpatient and community outreach services, for a better continuum of care
• Fortnightly meetings for PSWs to support each other in service delivery
Mental Health Film Club and a Hearing Voices Group in Kampala.

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.