Welcome

The MSP is glad to welcome its new personnel, Jean-Clement Ishimwe, who will be working as a nurse manager for the psychiatric nursing department. We wish him good luck in his service.

Akwaba!

Ergo-therapy

One of the challenges met at MSP is finding activities to keep the residents active and focused on therapeutic goals. At MSP, ergo-therapy plays an important role in fulfilling this role. Since the beginning of the hospital, ergo-therapy has been given an important place and it includes activities such as crafts, plays, and meetings. Lack of competent personnel in this area at MSP was one of the reasons why most activities were kept as ergo-therapy instead of being taken separately (this was the case of group therapy such as meetings).

During ergo-therapy, patients learn more than doing; they also learn how to be together, to form relationships, to take responsabilities, to have plans and dreams for their future, learn skills, and to be distracted from certain concerns that occupy their mind (hallucinations...).

On photos are some of the crafts that have been made by clients. These and other goods are sold when possible and the revenue received can be used to help clients start new projects once out of the hospital. It is important to mention that most of clients have been successful after hospitalization due to the skills learnt at MSP.

Mental Health services of the Brothers of Charity (part 2)

Specific traits of our mental healthcare model

1. Our institutes should be excellent
It is not just about providing care, but providing managed care in an excellent environment, with competent personnel.

2. The focus is on love, charity
Expertise is fine, but not enough - love is as important. Christian-inspired institutes should uphold love as their central value, the highest value lived in a radical way.

3. This love is given a specific hue among the Brothers of Charity because of their preferential love for the less privileged

4. All our commitment and care have but one aim: the promotion of man in all his facets
Mental healthcare by the Brothers of Charity employs a Christian vision on man, inspired by their values which are aimed at caring for the whole human person.

5. Together we can do much
The multidisciplinary model can be sustained only if all staff are ready to form a close-knit team. The Brothers of Charity believe strongly in it, basing themselves on the conviction that healthcare is a matter of concern for every caregiver and an area where everybody can actualize himself/herself fully.

Adapted from "Ethos", Brothers of Charity, 2006

L'O.N.G "Lumière et Vie" collabore avec la MSP à Yamoussoukro

L’O.N.G LUMIERE ET VIE est une ONG qui œuvre pour la promotion de la santé mentale et la réinsertion des malades en voie de stabilisation. Pour le lancement officiel de ses activités le samedi 13 mars 2010, elle a choisi le cadre de l’Hôpital Psychiatrique Saint Vincent de Paul de Yamoussoukro. La cérémonie, parrainée par le Père Jacques Kouassi (Curé de la paroisse Visitation de Yamoussoukro), a été honorée de la présence d’illustres personnalités dont Madame la représentante du Maire, Messieurs le représentant du Préfet de Région, le Directeur départemental de la santé, les chefs coutumiers (Baoulé, Wè, CEDEAO). Débutée aux environs de 10 heures avec l’arrivée des officiels, la série des allocutions a très vite emboité le pas au cours de cette cérémonie.

Pour Madame la représentante du Maire, cette cérémonie est un moment où seul le cœur s’exprime, une cérémonie qui vient à son heure pour nous rappeler combien l’amour du prochain devrait être quotidiennement au sein de nos préoccupations ; la solidarité agissante qui se manifeste derrière l’acte de cœur que pose l’ONG LUMIERE ET VIE mérite d’être salué à sa juste valeur.

A sa suite, le Directeur de l’hôpital psychiatrique, le Frère Félicien, a souligné qu’il s’agit d’une occasion pour louer le Seigneur et d’exprimer la gratitude de la congrégation des Frères de la Charité. Pour lui, l’ONG LUMIERE ET VIE se lance dans un travaille qui n’est pas facile. Mais avec Dieu tout est possible car il n’est pas rare de voir des anciens malades totalement restaurés. Remerciant toutes les entités qui lui apportent une assistance quotidienne, il estime en tant que Frère de la Charité, être dans le charisme de leur fondateur qui depuis 1815 a installé et développé un nouveau modèle de soin pour les malades mentaux, un modèle basé sur l’amour et la compétence et c’est cet amour qui est aussi développé au sein de l’hôpital psychiatrique Saint Vincent de Paul de Yamoussoukro. Chaque action envers le malade étant placée dans la perspective de la résurrection. Le malade revoit la lumière de sa vie, il revit.
Faisant l’historique de la création de cet hôpital, il mentionne qu’il est né de la volonté du district autonome de Yamoussoukro. Inauguré le 6 novembre 2002, il a commencé à recevoir les premiers patients dès le 2 janvier 2003. Cette maison dont la mission est d’accueillir les malades se fonde sur des personnes inspirées, formées pour guider les malades vers un avenir dans lequel ils peuvent trouver leur place dans la société. Et à travers le don que fait l’ONG LUMIERE ET VIE, elle se place aussi dans cette perspective de redonner vie aux malades.
Depuis son ouverture à la consultation jusqu’au 31 décembre 2009, 10306 patients ont été consultés.

CONTINUE LA LECTURE ICI

Jean-Clement, fc

Mental Health services of the Brothers of Charity (Part 1)

Mission of the mental health sector

The spirituality of the Brothers of Charity as realized in their care-giving for psychiatric patient is no monopoly of just the religious but a treasure in which all co-workers of this healthcare have a share. Therefore, the Brothers of Charity make great efforts to formulate their spirituality in order to see it lived together with their staff. Within psychiatric healthcare, we have done so recently so that the objectives and the mission of the Congregation in our time have been clearly delineated. This Mission Declaration runs as follows:

Moved by charity for the psychiatric patient,
we, working in the sector of mental healthcare of the Brothers of Charity,
want to deliver optimal services in an expert and inspired way,
in the spirit of our Founder, Peter Joseph Triest.
We care for acute and chronic patients,
indiscriminately of their origin, gender, or belief.
Moreover, we try to find feasible solutions for those who,
because of the inadequacy of the current facilities,
call on our care-giving.
We want to give the best possible care,
in a holistic way, to all patients.
We commit ourselves to making it financially feasible for every patient.
Together with the patients and their milieu,
we strive after the promotion of mental healthcare.
We want to reintegrate them with a lifestyle that suits them best.

We intend to spread this text among all our co-workers and to uphold it as a charter and guide for the future development of our care-giving. This text will also be an evaluation instrument for all our works in order to help reorient them if needed.

Extract from "Ethos" of the Brothers of Charity, 2006

Volunteering program at M.S.P

Volunteers are like a golden gift to our center because they give without measure, without any expectation of a return, and with a heart full of love. For some years, the MSP has encouraged the program of volunteering because it is part of our mission to increase awareness of mental health within the community. For the majority of the population, whenever one comes across a mentally challenged patient, the first reactions are that of resentment and avoidance. A mentally challenged individual is mostly characterized as “aggressive”, “dirty”, “untouchable”, and many other definitions you don’t want to hear now. So many ways have been tried to change this mentality. People may listen to lectures, read books and literatures, but there is no one best way of learning that can be compared with direct contact with the real world.

MSP welcomes volunteers of various ages, gender, responsibilities, and from across the world. Some of the activities that volunteers participate in are: ergo-therapy, sitting and talking with patients, playing games such as soccer, table games, and participating in various occupational therapy (OT) activities offered at the center. The majority of volunteers have been adults, some coming from religious institutes, others from the neighboring parish community such as prayer groups and scout troops. Our goal is to extend the program to target the younger population such as elementary and high school age population with the plan to instill mental health awareness at a younger age. In addition, we are planning to establish a permanent program for volunteers who wish to commit themselves for a longer period. YOU CAN BE ONE OF THEM. WE WILL BE GLAD TO HAVE YOU.

By Jean-Clement, fc