The BodyMind Approach to WellBeing

The BodyMind Approach to WellBeing is an integrative approach to overall mental and physical well-being through the coalescence of body consciousness and psychic balance, achieved through yoga, dance, movement and expressive arts.

The BodyMind Approach to Well-Being was developed by BeautifulMind Consultants, Ltd., (BMC) and its training arm JENGA: The East Africa Psycho-Social Network JENGA: The East Africa Psycho-Social Network. BMC is a Nairobi-based Social Enterprise, dedicated to building capacity in Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) in the East Africa Region (Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda). In July 2017, we held our fourth annual International Training Workshop in Nairobi on "MHPSS for Children, Adolescents, Families and Communities and Launch of the BodyMind Approach to Well-Being." The training was targeted toward MHPSS practitioners (psychologists, psychiatrists, drug and alcohol counsellors, church and school counsellors) from East Africa and included theoretical presentations on the use of expressive arts (drawing, painting, sculpture, dance, movement, yoga and dream analysis) to integrate body consciousness and awareness with attaining increasing states of psychic balance. In line with the idea that psychic imbalance includes anxiety, depression, substance abuse and addiction, mood (affective) disorders and personality disorders, the BodyMind Approach is aimed to be used by MHPSS practitioners, in particular in low-resource settings, to help their clients and patients to return to the body as a fulcrum of stability. It can also be used by practitioners themselves for self-care in the often draining profession of dealing with the psyche of others. BMC has been asked to scale the BodyMind Approach to both the Middle East and India and these plans are under way for 2018-2019. The BodyMind Approach to Well-Being is low-tech, easily scaled, comprehensible and has a potential to impact the mental and physical well-being of both adults and children, families and communities, in East Africa, Asia and the Middle-East. 

The BodyMind Approach addresses the lack of Mental Health and Psycho-social Support Service Providers in low-resource countries and the prevalence of Mental Disorders. In the recent report of Global Health Estimates by the World Health Organization (2017), "Depressive disorders led to a global total of over 50 million Years Lived with Disability (YLD) in 2015. More than 80% of this non-fatal disease burden occurred in low- and middle-income countries." Globally, depressive disorders are ranked as the single largest contributor to non-fatal health loss (WHO/MSD/MER/2017.2, © World Health Organization 2017).

Our theory of change is premised on the notion that the coalescence of body and mind that makes up a human being, is integral to the individual's whole health and healing. The BodyMind Approach is being piloted with several international and East African partners, such as Pronto International (Seattle, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Kilimanjaro Initiative (Nairobi, funded by the UNFCU) and the Nisela Group, a Nairobi-based Social Enterprise focused on Children's Mental Health. The BodyMind Approach will, moreover, be presented by BeautifulMind at the forthcoming Fifth Global Summit on Mental Health in Johannesberg in February 2018.

The impact will be improved overall physical and mental health outcomes among adults and children in the communities we reach. It will be deployed through training workshops, one-on-one counselling and group therapies. 

They fill out a questionnaire on completion of the training. - Mental health practitioners learn new skills and knowledge for their own self-care and to improve their delivery of services.

They report back to us in a feedback survey and we visit selected communities to assess progress and impacts. - 2o participants will return to their communities and share knowledge with 20 communities, involving 2000 people.

I selected Physics and Design as the closest to convey the sense of psychic balance that can be attained by a whole bodymind approach to well-being as the psyche tends to follow some of the laws of physics and art/design is one aspect of expression that can lift the patient out of depression and help to stabilize the patient in times of anxiety. Our approach is unique because it is non-medicalized and extremely low tech with wide-spread impacts on the targeted populations. Only simple art materials and space for expression are required.

The BodyMind Approach to WellBeing is human centered as it takes as its center the individual and their overall wholistic wellness and balance in body and mind. In drawing on the use of body consciousness and expressive arts, the approach cuts across all societies and transcends language-- in fact it is a tool for those who are suffering when sometimes words are not enough.  

The solution will be shared through training workshops including interactive sessions on dance, movement, music, painting and dreamwork. Thus far we have kept costs low and included meals and a complimentary yoga mat for our trainings but with sufficient funding we could subsidize the entrance fees of selected participants. 

We have developed a five year Funding Strategy (2018-2022) and List of Projects for Funding and have identified several donors in the United States, Europe and Africa. However, in reality, aside from a small Crowd Funding Campaign in 2017 (1000 USD), we have no outside resources at the present time. Funding for Mental Health in Developing Countries is increasing however and as we are a Social Enterprise we need to tap a particular resource base. There are many that appear promising and we are determined to fund our activities in the coming years. 

It would be difficult for us to carry out the planned activities or pursue the projects on the above-mentioned list without adequate funding.

Political tensions in the countries involved may be an obstacle to carrying out our planned activities. 

http://www.beautifulmind.cc

https://www.facebook.com/JENGAMHPSS/

It would be a remarkable opportunity to partner with MIT and Solve in order to increase our know-how and expertise, but also to be able to position ourselves as a global leader and social enterprise demonstrating our unique approach to overall bodymind health and wellbeing which will become increasingly important in the coming years, in particular in light of the disconnectedness and social isolation modern life entails. By going back to basics ("all we have is our body and our mind"), we can scale up a simple solution with far-reaching benefits for society and for our company. 

Pronto International (Seattle)

Kilimanjaro Initiative (Kenya)

Nisela Group (Kenya)

Kakuma Waldorf Project (Kenya)

CG Jung Institute of Analytical Psychology (Zurich)

Storylines (New York)

To Move and be Moved (Bangalore)

I dont know if anybody is doing what we are doing in the East Africa region but it seems not.