TINADA Youth Organization (TIYO)

Our program coordinates and facilitates community education on brain health, the effects of drugs on the brain, myths and misconceptions on mental health illness, the need for early treatment of mental health illness, and how day-to-day factors affect learning and memory.  This raises awareness about the brain and enables citizens and stakeholders to consider neuroscience and brain research and engage government on mental health rights. We do dialogues and discussions about mental health and rights for exchange of ideas about the brain and the interactions between cultures, society and neuroscience to inform policy development. This is done through local health facilities, community units, local informal community groups, women's groups, youth groups, medical colleges, opinion leaders, stakeholders, medical centers and churches in western Kenya. We also hold dialogues to empower traditional and faith healers to deliver evidence-based psychosocial interventions to reduce the treatment gap in Kenya.

Our mental health integrated program:

• Equips and empowers people with mental health disorders with the needed vocational/technical, workable and employable skills as well as soft and social skills
• Creates a technological environment for innovations and skills-development,
• Helps reduce stigmatization and discrimination of persons living with mental health illness including epilepsy and drug addicts and their families through brain awareness programs
• Puts mental health rehabilitative measures and programs in place that help bridge the gap between treatment and reintegration into communities
• Promotes mental health through community-based, culturally sensitive approaches that also create awareness about the need of tailored, community- based mental health preven­tion, therapies and rehabilitation among (political and traditional) leaders and decision makers (based on research) to stimulate community development and empowerment

In partnership with ON THE MOVE eV (a German NGO), we established the first center for mental health in western Kenya also known as HOME OF BRAINS which offers mental health awareness, education, prevention, therapies, rehabilitation and research. The center also offers free recreational activities to those challenged by mental health problems, school children and tertiary students. We focus on this to trigger students to develop interest in studying neuroscience to increase the number of psychiatrics in Kenya and beyond. The center provides preventive mental health services at all levels to all persons, equips and empowers mental health patients with the needed vocational/technical workable and employable skills as well as soft and social skills to prevent relapse and re-integrate them into society, and helps to reduce stigmatization and discrimination of persons living with mental health illness and their families.

The program works with the first cohort of trainees/employees consisting of mental health patients who receive vocational, social and emotional rehabilitation/training and work at the center for about 18 - 24 months, depending on their rehabilitation progress. As patients are evaluated continuously and are re-integrated into society over time, more patients are recruited to continue the cycle. All patients serve as mentees first, then as mentors for the new patients, and finally as alumni after leaving Home of Brains for an outside job.