Supporting modern mental health care

Angelo and Sagoon demonstrating non-violent crisis intervention to clinical staff

In June, BHP volunteer Angelo Leo, a Canadian psychiatric nurse with broad international experience, spent three weeks at Sajida Foundation’s The Hub, one of Dhaka's few specialist mental health hospitals. Angelo has vast experience in mental health and dementia care from many years working in hospital and community settings. In his “retirement”, he volunteers with Jaya Mental Health, an NGO based in UK and Nepal, and with Canadian Red Cross International providing psycho-social support to people affected by major disasters around the world. This was not his first visit to Dhaka: in 2012, Angelo spent a semester as Visiting Faculty at IUBAT College of Nursing, also as a BHP volunteer.

BHP has provided technical assistance to The Hub for several years through both on-site and distance support. Two or more times each week volunteers based in Canada have provided training and mentoring sessions via video link. Three other Canadian volunteers also spent time on-site in Dhaka prior to Angelo’s recent visit. Working with Sagoon K.C, a Nepalese colleague from Jaya, Angelo delivered training in de-escalation and violence prevention to the clinical staff through workshops and role plays. In dialogue sessions, managers and clinical teams problem-solved challenges common to both Bangladesh and Nepal related to social stigma about mental illness, shortages of staff and limited therapy options aside from medication. The team also ran skills development sessions for local trainers from Sajida’s other health programs.