“We go. We make house calls. We build health systems. We stay.”

The Partners In Health (PIH) Cross-Site Mental Health Program supports mental health program development at all the PIH global sites. PIH’s work in mental health is unique in the field of global health for the ways we create and strengthen community-based, primary care, and hospital-linked mental health systems to provide mental health services for complex and co-morbid common and severe mental health conditions in settings where there are few to no services available. PIH has responded to humanitarian crises as opportunities to strengthen health systems to build back better following catastrophic events, demonstrating the feasibility of task-shared, locally adapted, collaborative, comprehensive and community-based services for the long term in “real-world” settings. Since 2009, PIH has created a substantial, measurable, innovative global mental health care delivery model that has the potential to be scaled up nationally in partnership with local communities, governments, and Ministries of Health.

The Partners In Health Cross-Site Mental Health Program aligns mental health service delivery, training, and research, and optimizes academic opportunities with partner institutions.
 
Our Vision: To improve the lives of the patients and communities we serve by expanding mental health and psychosocial support services across the PIH Mental Health Value chain at all PIH care delivery sites around the globe and the US.
 
Our Mission: To improve the quality of clinical mental health care and support, accompany care delivery site teams in program development and management, facilitate meaningful cross-site collaborations and knowledge exchange to improve best practices, and advance global mental health equity and delivery through a comprehensive approach to addressing the care of people living with mental health conditions.
 
Our model is established on the following four key pillars:
  1. Clinical care, and the training, clinical supervision and mentorship needed to support it, as mental health care requires human beings who are prepared and ready for the difficult challenge
  2. Program management and technical advisement on optimal use of resources in context;
  3. Meaningful data collection with monitoring and evaluation, quality improvement, and research support
  4. Shared learning, knowledge sharing, and mutual support, both in person, and using technology with the Cross-Site Mental Health Learning Collaborative.
Summary of relevant work: 

The Partners In Health Cross Site Mental Health team works in collaboration with local implementers across all 11of PIH’s sites to develop and strengthen mental health services within PIH’s primary care system. Below is a summary of ongoing work across the PIH sites:

Haiti

Psychologists, social workers, nurses, physicians and Community Health Workers (CHWs) work through a task sharing model in collaboration with the MOH to integrate mental health care into primary care.

 

Kazakhstan

Psychologists and social workers integrate depression care for patients with Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) and are launching an innovative substance use intervention.

 

Lesotho

Lay counselors and providers deliver psychosocial interventions for integrated care for depression, MDR-TB, and provided crisis response support. PIH is leading Lesotho's technical working group to support development the first national mental health policy and strategic plan.

 

Liberia

Close partnerships with community members, traditional healers and lay providers, and facility level providers strengthen the quality and reach of mental health services. Peers and caregivers lead psychosocial rehabilitation groups and PIH works with the MOH to influence policy.

 

Malawi

Integration of mental health care in the Integrated Chronic Care Clinic (IC3) program, incorporating depression case-finding and treatment into HIV services, primary care, and maternal care.

Psychologists and lay counselors provide group psychotherapy for maternal depression.

 

Mexico

Community mental health workers deliver a psychotherapeutic intervention for depression and anxiety (WHO Problem Management Plus), conduct psychoeducation groups, and work with adolescents in the community. Community members promote restorative justice and gender equity via Women’s Circles.

(The)Navajo Nation

The Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment Program in Navajo Nation collaborates with key partners to increase access to mental health resources for community members and front-line workers.

 

Peru

SES has established innovative programming to identify, screen, refer, and treat people with a wide range of mental health conditions across diverse vulnerable populations, ranging from treating common mental health conditions, working with migrants, transgendered populations and women and children.

Rwanda

Health center nurses deliver WHO’s PM+ intervention for depression and anxiety with supportive supervision from psychologists. Community-based mental health care is provided in rural public primary care system through mentorship, training, and supervision, psychotherapy, and psychosocial rehabilitation.

Sierra Leone

Psychiatric and psychological care is integrated in the community, primary care, and district levels, including the national Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital. In partnership with the Ministry of Health, PIH-SL supported the development of the first psychiatry residency program in Sierra Leone at the renovated Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital (SLPTH)


Watch this video, created by Partners in Health in celebration of World Mental Health Day 2017, and which encapsulates all the great work Partners in Health is doing to empower communities and improve mental health around the world.

Address: 

800 Boylston Street, Suite 300
Boston MA 02199
USA

Telephone: 
1-857-880-5100
Key partners: 

Partners In Health Sister Sites around the globe:

Collaborators

Funders: 
  • Abundance Foundation
  • HGHI Burke Fellowship
  • Many Voices Foundation
  • One by One
  • Grand Challenges Canada
  • Johnson & Johnson
Seeking collaboration with: 
Other organizations
Experts by experience/service users
Country: 
Haiti
Lesotho
Liberia
Malawi
Mexico
Peru
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
United States of America

People

Innovations and resources

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Protected Home (Hogar Protegido) in Carabayllo

Implementation of residential support or ‘Hogar Protegido’ (the first ‘protected home’ in Lima) for people with chronic mental illness.
Region: 
North America
South America
Population: 
Adults
Disorder: 
Psychosis/bipolar disorder
860 reads
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Thinking Healthy Pilot in Peru

A WHO intervention implemented as a pilot between the Socio En Salud (Partners in Health) Maternal Health and Mental Health Programs.
Region: 
North America
South America
Population: 
Maternal and neonatal health
Disorder: 
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
1218 reads
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Socios En Salud

Psychologists integrate mental health care into maternal health, TB, early childhood development, chronic care programs, and COVID-19 responses
Region: 
North America
Population: 
Maternal and neonatal health
Children and adolescents
Adults
Older adults
Families and carers
Minority populations
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB)
Disorder: 
All disorders
77 reads
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Partners In Health, Cross-Site Mental Health Learning Collaborative (MHLC)

Trans-national consultation model for integrated mental health services across 10 global sites
Region: 
North America
Population: 
Maternal and neonatal health
Adults
Older adults
Families and carers
Minority populations
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB)
Disorder: 
Epilepsy/seizures
Child behavioural and developmental disorders
Psychosis/bipolar disorder
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
Alcohol/drug use disorders
Self-harm/suicide
Dementia and other neurocognitive disorders
249 reads
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Compañeros En Salud (CES)

Linking care between community and facility levels with the support of mental health community health workers.
Region: 
North America
Population: 
Maternal and neonatal health
Children and adolescents
Adults
Older adults
Families and carers
Minority populations
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB)
Disorder: 
All disorders
1178 reads
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Abwenzi Pa Za Umoyo: Integrating the MESH MH model in Malawi

Integration of an adapted Mentoring and Enhanced Supervision for Mental Health (MESH MH) model within healthcare settings with a focus on chronic care and maternal health
Region: 
Africa
Population: 
Maternal and neonatal health
Adults
Older adults
Families and carers
Minority populations
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB)
Disorder: 
Epilepsy/seizures
Child behavioural and developmental disorders
Psychosis/bipolar disorder
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
Alcohol/drug use disorders
Self-harm/suicide
Dementia and other neurocognitive disorders
All disorders
1624 reads
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Partners in Health Lesotho Mental Health Integration Program

Mental health integration into primary care, focusing on people with MDRTB and mothers & children through advanced training, mentorship and supervision.
Region: 
Africa
Population: 
Maternal and neonatal health
Children and adolescents
Adults
Older adults
Families and carers
Minority populations
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB)
Disorder: 
Epilepsy/seizures
Child behavioural and developmental disorders
Psychosis/bipolar disorder
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
Alcohol/drug use disorders
Self-harm/suicide
Dementia and other neurocognitive disorders
3736 reads
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PIH: Linking Community and Facility-level Mental Health care in Liberia

Community-based, health center linked, and hospital- enriched approach to resilient mental health programming.
Region: 
Africa
Population: 
Maternal and neonatal health
Children and adolescents
Adults
Older adults
Families and carers
Minority populations
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB)
Disorder: 
Epilepsy/seizures
Child behavioural and developmental disorders
Psychosis/bipolar disorder
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
Alcohol/drug use disorders
Self-harm/suicide
Dementia and other neurocognitive disorders
2750 reads
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Partners In Health Sierra Leone: Mental Health Program

Decentralized mental health care via community-based outreach and programming, psychiatric reform, and psychosocial reintegration processes.
Region: 
Africa
Population: 
Maternal and neonatal health
Adults
Older adults
Families and carers
Minority populations
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB)
Disorder: 
Epilepsy/seizures
Child behavioural and developmental disorders
Psychosis/bipolar disorder
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
Alcohol/drug use disorders
Self-harm/suicide
Dementia and other neurocognitive disorders
162 reads
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Zanmi Lasante

Promoting a novel community-based mental health care delivery model in rural Haiti and building a national scale-up plan.
Region: 
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
Population: 
Maternal and neonatal health
Adults
Older adults
Families and carers
Minority populations
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB)
Disorder: 
Epilepsy/seizures
Child behavioural and developmental disorders
Psychosis/bipolar disorder
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
Alcohol/drug use disorders
Self-harm/suicide
Dementia and other neurocognitive disorders
4760 reads
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Integrating mental health into primary care: expanding a community-based mentorship and enhanced supervision (MESH) model to address mental disorders in Rwanda.

Provision of affordable community-based mental health care in the primary health care system by trained non-specialists using MESH and Problem Management Plus (PM+) models.
Region: 
Africa
Population: 
Maternal and neonatal health
Children and adolescents
Adults
Older adults
Families and carers
Minority populations
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB)
Disorder: 
Epilepsy/seizures
Child behavioural and developmental disorders
Psychosis/bipolar disorder
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
Alcohol/drug use disorders
Self-harm/suicide
Dementia and other neurocognitive disorders
2311 reads