Making Mental Health a Priority in Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

Today is World Mental Health Day and 2022’s theme is “making mental health and well-being a global priority for all.”

As an international organization with a holistic focus, improving access to mental health support has been a huge part of what we have been developing in our organization for the last couple of years. We believe that addressing mental health needs is an essential part of interrupting the cycle of poverty, which not only prevents people from being able to meet their basic needs but from being able to prioritize their wellness.

We have expanded our services to include individual and group-based counselling with HFK social workers and licensed professionals from a counselling agency in Addis Ababa. These counsellors come to our offices throughout the week, working with those families and individuals that have been identified as needing more intensive counselling support. This partnership has been incredibly successful, and we look forward to continuing to develop it. Our team has also integrated trauma awareness and coping skills into our programming. We are extremely grateful to our Ethiopian staff and counselling team, as well as our registered clinical counselor on our Canadian staff team, who have all worked so hard on developing this critical program area.

We are actively continuing to work on improving our mental health support as we observe, listen, and learn more about the needs of the people in Korah.