Friendship bench is not just an intervention that addresses mental health issues. It's really an intervention that connects people and i think that's where the real power of this comes from. In every culture, people thrive when they connect with each other. When you connect people, particularly using grandmothers or the elderly, you have thispro ound sense of belonging. And it creates a sense of purpose, particularly for the grandmothers and the nna ants. That's what i would like to see in the next coming years.
Dr. Dixon Chibanda, a psychiatrist in Zimbabwe, has been on a mission for years to help people gain access to mental healthcare in his community, where there's only one psychiatrist for every 1.5 million people. To bridge the gap and provide people with the help they need, Dixon turned to a rather unorthodox group for help: grandmothers.
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