Mental Health Forum

On May 24, 2016 I joined a group of hospital staff for a mental health forum in a small rural community known as Wawase.  The staff represented various hospital departments and I was representing the emergency unit. Wawase is about a 10 -minute drive south-west of Ankaase. Mental health education has become a big focus in Ghana and efforts are being made to educate the public and dispel erroneously held beliefs. Some strongly belief that mental illnesses are spiritual diseases caused by witches and that the person who suffers from a mental illness has been cursed.  Some family members will sometimes take suspected members with mental illness to “religious camps” and chain them to tress until the illness has “left” them. The goal is to eradicate these practices and help citizens understand the nature of mental illnesses.

Community members listening to the message about mental health

Due to the lack of adequate psychiatrists, some nurses are specially trained in psychiatric diseases and management. They take different boards for licensing and thus, have prescriptive powers and are able to manage patients independent of a psychiatrist. The psych nurse (Mr. Newton) at the Ankaase hospital coordinated the efforts for the Wawase mental health education. There were about a 100 people in attendance including the Chief of the town and his deputy (Benkumhene).

Mr. Newton. He is providing education about the benefits of early recognition and treatment

Mr. Newton spend about 30 minutes talking about mental health, causes of certain illnesses and medical management of the illnesses. He then opened the floor for questions and then spent another 45 minutes answering them. Interestingly, there was a young man present with suspected mental illness who was disrupting the program. The whole community knew that there was something wrong with the man but no one had attempted to find him some help. The chief and the community agreed to help the family of this man so that he can get the treatment and care he needs. The family needed help getting him to the hospital because of his unpredictable and aggressive nature due to the illness.

Some of the hospital staff present at the event

Wawase has an interesting history. It was founded in 1657 when a hunter discovered a large pit with smoke emanating from its depth. Wawase is the twi translation for “there is a meaning here”. The hunter believed there was a meaning to the smoke coming out of the pit. After climbing down the smoky pit, he discovered “EKYEM”. This EKYEM is placed on the golden stool (a stool made of pure gold that appeared from the sky) and precedes the arrival of the Ashanti King. So since time immemorial, every EKYEM has been made in Wawase. Thus, the town is a very important part of the Ashanti Kingdom.

EKYEM on display at the Chief's palace. This is a replica. The original (discovered in 1657) is kept out of pubic view.

Quick history lesson; during Ghana’s colonial days, the British tried many times, unsuccessfully, to take away the golden stool from the Ashanti Kings. This resulted in so many wars and so much carnage. They finally gave up and exiled the then King, King Prempeh to the Seychelles Island. This happened in the late 1800s. For more on the history of the Ashanti's, please visit  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashanti_Empire

The location of the pit where the hunter discovered the EKYEM and smoke. The tree is known as NTOMME. It was planted to mark the location back in 1657. So it is a very old tree. The white wall surrounds where the pit used to be.

Wawase Chief, Nana Oboadum Kusi Antwi II, wearing the white cloth (traditional attire) on the right. On his left is the Benkumhene (his assistant) wearing the yellow cloth.