Latest news with #DixonChibanda
The Guardian
08-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘Friendship benches' to offer free mental health support in Sussex
People in Sussex who are depressed, lonely or anxious are to be offered free, easily accessible support through the Friendship Bench, a pioneering pilot spreading around the world. The Friendship Bench scheme, which involves a wooden park bench being placed in a public space, offers a listening ear, in the shape of so-called 'grandmothers' and 'grandfathers' to anyone passing. These lay counsellors receive just two weeks of training. But analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the model resulted in an 80% reduction in depression and suicidal ideation, and a 60% increase in clients' quality of life. After six months, 80% of clients who had sat down to chat with a lay counsellor were still symptom-free. Founded in Zimbabwe by Prof Dixon Chibanda in 2006, the model has spread to other cities and countries around the world, including New York, Washington, Qatar and Jordan. In the past three years alone, with the support of the World Health Organization, more than half a million people have benefited. Now Dr Nina Lockwood, a research fellow at Brighton and Sussex medical school and the National Institute for Health and Care Research, is introducing the scheme to Sussex. 'There is an unintended novelty to the west taking a model founded in Africa, but just like in Zimbabwe, the UK has a massive shortfall in mental health resources compared to the demand of our population's mental health problems,' said Lockwood. 'We urgently need to adopt agile, alternative ways of working.' In deference to the British weather, the Sussex benches will be placed not outside, as in Zimbabwe, but in indoor areas such as libraries, church halls and community spaces. Like the Zimbabwe model, however, local people can either make appointments or just turn up to talk through their problems and explore possible solutions. They then go away, try the solution and report back. The Sussex pilot will involve 10 lay mental-health workers who will hold weekly sessions for six to eight weeks. Mebrak Ghebreweldi, a co-founder of the Sussex-based Diversity Resource International, which supports ethnically diverse and migrant communities, has been trained as one of the first Sussex 'grandmothers'. 'If someone comes to us with stress, we have the time to talk to them until they tell us they're living in one room with their four children – so the problem is actually housing, and we help with that,' she said. 'Or young people might come and say they're depressed, but after we've gone deeper, it turns out they're unemployed – so the problem is they haven't found work, and we can help with that. 'GPs don't have time for those long conversations,' she said. 'They'll just prescribe something for the headache and the depression. By unnecessarily medicalising them, the client is disempowered and that can actually make things worse.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Chibanda said he had developed the model after realising that 'the answers to the global mental health crisis do not lie in more diagnoses of disorders or prescriptions for medications'. 'Most of us are aware that we are in the midst of an excruciating global mental health epidemic that has taken a harsh toll with respect to the sheer numbers of people living with depression, loneliness, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, and suicidal ideation,' he said. 'I came to realise that while not everyone can see a mental health professional, most people have access to a vital untapped resource: the care, compassion, empathy, and wisdom of grandmothers – the unsung heroines of the world.' About one in six adults across the UK experienced moderate to severe depressive symptoms in 2022, and up to 10% of people in England will experience depression at some point in their life, according to the Mental Health Foundation. Research suggests the total cost of mental ill health in England in 2022 was £300bn, with people who have depression at higher risk of developing certain chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, pain, osteoporosis and Alzheimer's disease. Stigma and denial can mean it takes years for people with mental health problems to ask for help. But even once they do, waiting times on the NHS can be 18 weeks, with some waiting even longer.
CBS News
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
This week on "Sunday Morning" (February 9)
The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. "Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.) Hosted by Jane Pauley. COVER STORY: Pitch perfect: Commercial spokespeople talk about their TV fame You know them at Flo, the Progressive Insurance saleswoman; Mayhem, the human embodiment of disasters covered by Allstate; and the unstoppable dancer from the Jardiance diabetes drug ads. Correspondent David Pogue talks with actors Stephanie Courtney, Dean Winters and Deanna Colon about how becoming nationally famous via TV commercials has (or hasn't) changed their lives. Stephanie Courtney, The Groundlings Follow Dean Winters on Instagram Follow Deanna Colon on Instagram ALMANAC: Feb 9 "Sunday Morning" looks back at historical events on this date. ARTS: The art of boxing Rita Braver reports. For more info: For more info: "Jim Gaffigan: The Skinny" on Hulu HEALTH: The Friendship Bench: Bringing talk therapy into underserved communities Dr. Dixon Chibanda was one of the few practicing psychiatrists in Zimbabwe when he founded the Friendship Bench, a program that trained grandmothers to serve as "first responders" for those seeking mental health assistance in underserved communities. The program has since grown to include nearly 3,000 elderly listeners attending to more than 200,000 people all over Zimbabwe, and is now expanding to vulnerable communities in nine countries, including the United States. Chibanda talks with CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook about how elderly advisers can be effective at alleviating symptoms of both depression and generalized anxiety disorders. Dixon Chibanda, Centre for Global Mental Health African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI) Friendship Bench DC (HelpAge USA) Washington Seniors Wellness Center, Washington, D.C. Documentary: "The Friendship Bench" (SeaLion Films) "The Friendship Bench: How Fourteen Grandmothers Inspired a Mental Health Revolution" by Dixon Chibanda, MD (New World Library), in Trade Paperback and eBook formats, available April 22 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and PASSAGE: In memoriam "Sunday Morning" remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week. MEDIA: The New Yorker magazine's first hundred years The New Yorker, the beloved weekly magazine encompassing journalism, fiction, poetry and cartoons, is celebrating its one-hundredth birthday. "Sunday Morning" contributor (and New Yorker writer) Kelefa Sanneh goes inside the magazine's history with editor David Remnick, manager Bruce Diones, and Fergus McIntosh, who leads the magazine's battalion of fact-checkers, to discuss The New Yorker's longevity, national reach, and idiosyncratic appeal. For more info: The New Yorker "A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker 1925-2025," edited by Deborah Treisman (Knopf), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available February 25 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and "A Century of Poetry in The New Yorker 1925-2025," edited by Kevin Young (Knopf), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available February 25 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Exhibition: "A Century of The New Yorker," beginning Feb. 25, at the New York Public Library, New York City HARTMAN: Met guard MOVIES: "Wicked" star Cynthia Erivo on soaring to success Cynthia Erivo, the dynamic vocalist who has won a Tony Award, a Grammy, and an Emmy, is now up for a best actress Oscar for playing Elphaba in the movie version of the musical "Wicked." She joins correspondent Seth Doane in East London, to show him the theater where she got her start. Erivo also discusses why she's often felt like the odd one out; how an estrangement from her father drove her to succeed; what she brought to the role of the Wicked Witch of the West; and the power she feels from singing live on a film set. For more info: "Wicked" is playing in theaters, and is available on Blu-Ray/DVD and VOD Follow Cynthia Erivo on Instagram ARTS: Weaving a fascination for lace A delicate jewel among textiles, lace is an elegant and deceptively simple creation whose appeal has been spun for centuries. Correspondent Lee Cowan teases the threads of the misunderstood history of lace, and talks with some of the hundreds of lacemakers who shared their craft at the annual convention of the International Organization of Lace, Inc. BEVERAGES: A spirited take on maple syrup This is not your grandad's maple syrup; Hollerhorn Distilling, in Naples, N.Y., makes spirits from locally-produced maple syrup, transforming the golden nectar, aged in used bourbon casks, into a clear, 80-to-100 proof liquor. Correspondent Luke Burbank takes a sip. COMMENTARY: Sports Illustrated's 4th-quarter comeback The great comeback makes for one of the most popular sports tropes – and Sports Illustrated got to live one, when the venerable weekly magazine and its staff overcame financial obstacles to maintain its 70-year-long print tradition of sports journalism. "60 Minutes" correspondent Jon Wertheim comments on how a team, near defeat, refused to concede and came back as winners. WEB EXCLUSIVES: The Vespa, the sporty Italian motorbike, is as much a fashion accessory as it is a set of wheels. Seth Doane visits the Vespa factory in Pontedera, Italy, and takes a trip through Rome with Annie Ojile, an American expat who started a Vespa tour company, Scooteroma. (Originally broadcast on May 21, 2017.) For more info: Scooteroma, Rome Vespa Club NYC (Facebook) IN MEMORIAM: Notable Deaths in 2025 (Gallery) A look back at the esteemed personalities who left us this year, who'd touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity. Full episodes of "Sunday Morning" are now available to watch on demand on and Paramount+, including via Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Chromecast, Amazon FireTV/FireTV stick and Xbox.
