South African Mental Health Advocacy Movement (SAMHAM)

Strengthening existing advocacy groups, supporting the establishment of new ones where such groups are still lacking, identifying individuals with leadership potential and developing them into leaders for the mental health movement around which ongoing advocacy and awareness activities can be built.

Mission statement

The South African Mental Health Advocacy Movement (SAMHAM) was established by the South African Federation for Mental Health (SAFMH) in 2007 in recognition of the importance of giving persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities a voice, and further recognising that they are ultimately the experts in mental health and thus should always be key partners among all stakeholders within the mental health sector.

SAMHAM focusses on the development of an effective, representative, national network of persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities and build on this as a national structure for the ongoing empowerment of persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities, and for raising awareness through contact-based education at community level across South Africa.

SAMHAM forms a key component of the SA Federation for Mental Health’s ongoing efforts to improve the reporting of human rights violations in South Africa, as it provides an infrastructure through which persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities and their families can report and escalate human rights violations from community-based settings across SA.

Summary of relevant work

SAMHAM has developed a multi-year strategic development plan that focuses on empowering persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities across South Africa through conducting empowerment sessions in all nine provinces in South Africa. Through this process, advocacy leaders are recruited to continue to empower communities and run advocacy and awareness activities.

SAMHAM is involved in the drafting and reviewing of policies and legislation, and ensuring that persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities’ rights are protected within South African legal frameworks.