ACFH has it origins in an unlikely collaboration between an American born and trained psychiatrist (Dale) and a native Somali (Salah) both serving at the state psychiatric hospital in Minneapolis. They found themselves working with a treatment refractory non English speaking cohort of Somali immigrants all court committed. Through their joint efforts, they were able to make remarkable progress. Several of the patients were able to be released to the community. Salah and Dale found that what had been previously diagnosed as schizophrenia , seemed to be more symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and cultural overload. Most importantly, the patients responded best to being listened to and validated. Salah was deeply inspired by what they were able to accomplish and courageously returned to Somalia for the first time since having to flee the chaos of his war ravaged homeland several decades previous. He found a mental health system in complete disarray. He invited Dale to come over and continue their healing collaboration in Somalia. And here we are.
We are hoping to address the needs of the mentally ill population with treatments that are based on healing human connections. After surveying the situation , training more people to provide mental health treatment seemed like the logical first step. We have provided several shorter trainings for hospital staffs. We have started a year long course in Dialectical Behavior Therapy for a group of young eager students. Salah and I have treated many individuals here to make sure our interventions are relevant and effective. We have purposely not allowed ourselves to be swallowed up by the overwhelming needs. Teaching others is our main focus.
Our purpose is to increase the capacity of mental health services. The WHO estimates one in three Somalis are suffering from a mental illness. There are very limited treatment options available. The public psychiatric facilities are under-served and understaffed. Many people identified with mental illness are chained or locked up in \"ilaajes\"(or both.) Ilaajes are primitive residential care facilities. There is a pervasive belief that mental illness is caused by possession. People identified with mental illness are highly stigmatized. They have few if any legal rights. Psychotropic medication is the primary intervention from the local medical community when a person is able to actually see a physician. The concept of therapy does not exist. Khat, a psychoactive plant, is legal and many many Somali\'s chew it regularly. It seems to be primarily a male habit. We have seen several patients with khat induced psychosis. Fortunately, most people who chew, don\'t become psychotic.