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GXC 2025 Online Virtual Conference - Mental Health Without Borders

Mental Health in Ghana: Community Resilience & Local Innovation for Global Collaboration

Peter Mintir Amadu
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Date & Time

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Describe the mental health landscape in Ghana by identifying key trends, national policy frameworks, and the prevalence of mental health conditions, especially among youth, women, and marginalized populations.

  • Analyze the impact of TOLECGH's community-based interventions, including trauma- informed care, MHPSS in peacebuilding, school mental health advocacy, support for alleged witches, SGBV survivors, and drug abuse rehabilitation in urban ghettos.

  • Evaluate the systemic and socio-cultural barriers affecting mental health care delivery in Ghana, such as stigma, limited funding, service inaccessibility, and human resource gaps.

  • Identify strategic opportunities for international collaboration that support culturally grounded Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) models and enhance service usability and reach.

  • Formulate a multi-sectoral roadmap for promoting mental health equity in Ghana through evidence-based advocacy, digital integration, livelihood empowerment, and inclusive policy reforms.

Educational Goal

Participants will enhance their understanding of culturally informed mental health care delivery in underserved communities by exploring trauma-informed practices, stigma reduction strategies, and community-based psychosocial interventions developed through the Total Life Enhancement Centre in Northern Ghana. This session will equip learners with practical frameworks to integrate culturally relevant approaches into their own clinical and outreach work.

Description

This session will provide a powerful and evidence-based exploration of the mental health landscape in Ghana, highlighting both the challenges and emerging opportunities within the context of a rapidly evolving global health environment. Drawing from over a decade of community engagement and service provision led by Peter Mintir Amadu, this session will spotlight how local innovation, grassroots advocacy, and trauma-informed interventions are transforming lives in underserved communities, particularly among youth, women, and other vulnerable populations through Total Life Enhancement Centre Ghana (TOLECGH).


Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of Ghana’s current mental health system; its gaps in accessibility, infrastructure, funding, and professional workforce; and the socio-cultural barriers such as stigma and traditional beliefs that often deter help-seeking behaviors. The session will further delve into the design and delivery of culturally grounded mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions that are aligned with both international frameworks and indigenous needs.


Attendees will be introduced to TOLECGH’s ART-LE/PE model (Advocacy - Rehabilitation, Therapy – Livelihood Empowerment/Positive-Policy Engagement), which bridges clinical care and community resilience. Key initiatives, including school-based mental health advocacy/education, support for women in alleged witches’ camps, drug rehabilitation for ghetto youth, and MHPSS in peacebuilding, will be analyzed for their scalability and global relevance.


By attending this session, mental health professionals, educators, policymakers, and global health partners will acquire actionable insights into effective cross-sector collaboration, culturally sensitive program design, and sustainable mental health system strengthening. It will offer both inspiration and tools to replicate or adapt similar strategies in other low-resource or post-conflict settings.


Target Audience

  • Addiction Professional
  • Counselor
  • Marriage & Family Therapist
  • Nurse
  • Physician
  • Psychologist
  • Social Worker

Presenters

Peter Mintir Amadu
Peter Mintir Amadu is a Clinical Health Psychologist, Lecturer/educator, Researcher and mental health advocate whose work spans academia, clinical service, and community-based mental health interventions in Ghana. A Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Service (MHPSS) champion in the Northern Ghana and Ghana as a whole At the University for Development Studies (UDS), he serves as a Lecturer in the School of Medicine, Department of mental Health where he is actively involved in teaching,student research supervision, and various administrative duties. His academic work or research interest is centered on youth mental health, trauma-informed care, Mental health Literacy and mental health service access. As a researcher he has a number of peer reviewed articles to his credit with a number of ongoing collaborations towards developing empirical evidence for practice, policy and services delivery in the area of mental health. In his clinical role at Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), Peter is a Visiting Clinical Health Psychologist. He provides patient care at the tertiary level by providing expert psychological assessments, therapy, and trauma-informed interventions, enhancing recovery, mental well-being, and holistic health outcomes. He supports mental health service delivery, particularly advocacy and training in trauma, depression, and anxiety management. He also plays a critical role in the clinical supervision and training of intern and practicum psychology students, medical students, nurses, and other allied mental health professionals. Peter is the Founder and Executive Director of Total Life Enhancement Centre Ghana (TOLECGH), where his enjoys the title mental health advocate which he exemplifies through his passion, dedication, commitment and enthusiasm for spreading mental health information for a better understanding. TOLECGH is a pioneering MHPSS organization delivering integrated mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services in Northern Ghana. TOLECGH is the first/premier accredited psychology clinic in Northern Ghana by the Ghana Psychology Council (GPC). TOLECGH’s trilogy (Advocacy, Therapy and Training - ATT) in the mental health ecosystem is innovative towards achieving SDG 3.4;. Under his leadership, TOLECGH leads initiatives with self-developed model (ART-LE/PE) to addressing mental health issues in Context Constrain countries (CCC) in: • Advocacy, through radio, schools, ghettos, prisons, and communities • Therapy and psychological support, for vulnerable populations • Rehabilitation programs, targeting ghetto youth and substance users • Livelihood Empowerment, sharpening the skills of youth for effective engagement • Training and mentorship, for young mental health advocates and professionals Beyond these core roles, Peter contributes to District, Regional and National mental health dialogue through volunteerism, consultancies, trainings, seminars, policy reviews, and partnerships with local and international stakeholders, emphasizing inclusive, and culturally grounded models of mental health care and services.