Tap Elderly Women's Wisdom for Youth

TEWWY is a mental health stakeholder in Tanzania bridging the intergenerational and mental health treatment-gap by training retired elderly women in WHO's mental health Gap Action Program (mhGAP). The grandmothers (aka Wisdom&Wellness℠ Counselors) provide mental health services, support, and resources in their underserved communities. Current Project: Mental Health Intervention Program in Communities Collaborating with Tanzania's Local Government Authorities (LGAs) across 5 municipalities, TEWWY's psychosocial interventions are accessible to communities in 15 wards across Dar-es-Salaam. Psychosocial Interventions: * Wisdom&Wellness Corners - One-on-one interpersonal counseling * Wisdom&Wellness Circles - Safe spaces for people to share wisdom and experiences; gain life skills, and strengthen social supports. * Psychoeducation Resources - Mental health awareness and promotion tools tailored to Tanzania's cultural context such as information given verbally in a counseling session; written material in the form of psychology tools (eg. booklets, posters, flyers, etc); and exercises or homework tasks where individuals are empowered through self-awareness. * 
Life Skills Building - Positive and adaptive behaviors that empower people to be able to deal with the many challenges of life such as self-care, stress management, self-awareness, identifying help & empathy, etc. * Specialist &/or Hospital Referral Referral and back-referral pathways are linked to the expected roles and responsibilities of specialists and non-specialists and also between centralized facilities (e.g. public health Institutions) and community services. * Survey Research - The survey consists of two standardized scales—Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)—for depression severity and stress; and additional multiple-choice and open-ended questions regarding stressors and coping mechanisms.