The Medical Research Council / Uganda Virus Research Institute (MRC/UVRI) & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit are on a continuous project of training peer refugee counselors in Uganda.
This was revealed by Prof. Eugene Kinyanda a psychiatrist, senior investigator scientist, and head of the mental health section of the MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit. The program continues to be effected mainly in urban areas under the Community WeLlbeing and Mental Health Project (CLAMP) among Refugees in the community.
According to Prof. Kinyanda, the primary focus is to select and train refugees in counseling and enable them counsel their peers to increase resilience within the community and help manage depression, anxiety, and psychological trauma.
“Since 2019 together with partners like the Clamp family, Butabika Hospital trauma unit, Coventry University, Inter aid, Makerere University, African Humanitarian Agency, and Medical Research Council (MRC), we have established the CLAMP project to cater to the refugees’ mental health problems that are as results of the traumatic experiences they have gone through,” he said.
Professor Kinyanda also noted that Uganda hosts over 1.5 million refugees, and more than 80,000 live in Kampala, therefore in line with the government’s Out of Camp policy, refugees are presumed to be more self-reliant and do not receive regular humanitarian assistance which sometimes means that urban refugees face challenges when it comes to affording food and housing.
“Uganda has a good refugee policy where they are allowed to be integrated into the community, so this project is mainly attached to those refugees who come and stay in the urban centers,” he highlighted.
Penelope Yanni the funder of the CLAMP project said that her focus is on mental health challenges that’s why they decided to come up with such a project to give hope and life to the refugees.
“Although individual counseling is provided, groups seem to be what the participants preferred more, setting to share experiences and I am happy that refugees have feedback that they are grateful to have the CLAMP project services which are very well utilised,” she added.
One of the peer counselors and a refugee from Congo Aliane Nyamugisha expressed some of the challenges faced, saying most of the refugees are not willing to tell their stories since they went through a lot which affects the assessment process.
Nyamugisha also noted that being trained to become a peer counselor has benefited her personally in dealing with life’s stressors and solving real-life difficulties for both herself and her fellow refugees.
“I have been empowered to help fellow refugees within the community, therefore I am so grateful to the CLAMP,” she added.
About CLAMP
On September 1, 2019, charitable funding was donated from the private funds of John and Andrea Clamp, hence the CLAMP (Community WeLlbeing and Mental Health Project among Refugees in Uganda) project started running.
The team included Dr. Eugene Kinyanda, a Ugandan team of peer counselors, a clinical psychologist, and a psychiatric clinical officer, with the support of Dr. Penelope Clamp, a psychiatrist who runs two mental health clinics, and Dr. Helen Liebling, a Clinical Psychologist.
The CLAMP project is assisting large numbers of refugees through counseling, resilience building, and social enterprise projects that generate a sustainable income for refugees in camps and those who were integrated into the community.
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