My housemate and I have taken leadership of the strategic initiative to “open additional pathways of care for those with mental and emotional health needs.”
The gap in care for people with mental health needs is huge—a recent study in this country showed up to 95% of those needing care do not get it. Among them are adolescents who struggle with how violence, and maybe particularly gender-based violence, affects their mental health. We are finding that about 11% of the adolescents in our lives have seen or been the victims of violent acts. Please pray for us as we work to address these issues.
Currently we are putting together curriculum to start teaching in one of our target villages. We aim to improve the adolescents’ ability to increase helping behaviors and reduce harmful behaviors. Following a model used in other countries, we also hope to train “Friends on the Bench” who make their listening ears available to others. Please pray God will use these efforts and free people to love God with all their minds.
Excerpted from a note from a veteran Partner in South Asia