Simone Renault

The lone child living in the international dormitory at Eden Theological Seminary in Missouri, Simone was raised by her aunties and uncles from all over the world. She is now a psychiatrist and global mental health practitioner-in-training who seeks to reignite whole person healing through togetherness in pursuit of the Beloved Community. Currently, she is an MD/MSc student on full scholarship at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine/King’s College London and The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She graduated from The University of Iowa in 2014 with honors in Neurobiology and International Studies and a minor in Philosophy.

Simone worked with the Friendship Bench to conduct a qualitative research project on Circle Kubana Tose (CKT)s which are peer led groups that provide the Friendship Bench clients with ongoing support.

Report

Holding Hands Together: Preliminary Qualitative Findings of Mental Health Support Groups in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, the Friendship Bench trains community health workers to deliver psychological talk therapy on benches stationed inside primary health centers. Circle Kubatana Tose (CKT), meaning “holding hands together” in Shona, is a peer support group that brings Friendship Bench clients together in the hopes of extending and enhancing the therapeutic benefits delivered on the Bench. As the first inquiry into the implementation and impact of CKT, and with an eye to the recovery model of mental illness, we detail preliminary qualitative findings of the barriers and enablers to participation in CKT.

Keywords

Zimbabwe, mental health, recovery, peer support, therapeutic benefits, mental illness, mental wellbeing.