The plastic carrier bag that gave birth to MindFreedom Ghana in August 2004
ABOUT MINDFREEDOM
MindFreedom Ghana (MFGh) was established in August 2004 and registered in November 2005 as a non-profit organization, at the Registrar-General’s Department. MFGh is also registered with the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Formation of the organization was initiated by Dan Taylor in May 2004 when he made contacts (interestingly he got the email address of the group from a plastic carrier bag he got after buying some stuff from the market in Accra) with a peer support group of persons with mental disabilities in Inverness, Scotland, UK called Highland Users Group. Dan wrote to them seek support for his nephew who had a mental health condition. He was
directed by the Group then led by Graham Morgan to contact the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP), an advocacy organization, which he did.
Having gotten in touch with the WNUSP, Dan was thereafter connected with Mrs. Janet Amegatcher, who was then a Board member of the organization and resident in Ghana working as a lawyer in Accra. After getting in touch with Janet, she embraced Dan’s suggestion for the establishment of an organization that will see to the overall welfare and rights of persons with mental disabilities in Ghana.
This then set the tone for the establishment of MindFreedom Ghana following which Dan brought on board Nii Lartey Addico, a friend of his who expressed interest in the goals of the then nascent organization, because of his sister who has a mental health condition.
With all the necessary ground work done, the need for a name for the organization as a matter of requirement came up. which interestingly was taken from MindFreedom International (MI) based in Portland, Oregon, USA. This came about through the initiative of Janet who by then in 2003 had met some people notably the David Oaks and the late Celia Brown, both from that organization at the UN Headquarters, New York, during the negotiations for the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
We therefore wrote formally to MI and asked to adopt its name with ours to be known and referred to as: MindFreedom Ghana. MI readily agreed and consented to this request and gave our organization a loose affiliation status.
WHY CHOOSE US
MindFreedom Ghana (MFGh) is a mental health, human rights and development organization. Our
uniqueness as an organization has been defined by the vision, mission and objectives of MFGh. We pride
ourselves as operating in a highly informal beneficiary-focused environment. Our approach to work helps
us to quickly identify the needs of our stakeholders and then we work to meet them.
We are always eager to provide value to our projects in line with our mission and the impact to our end-
beneficiaries: women, men, the youth, children with mental health conditions, etc. We are ultimately
answerable to our stakeholders; this is why we show demonstrable commitment and involvement of
stakeholders in our project inception, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Our advocacy activities have culminated inter alia in the enactment of rights-based mental health
legislation (Mental Health Act, 2012, Act 846) and Ghana’s ratification of the UN Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
MFGh has also been actively involved in the WHO QualityRights Initiative which has brought knowledge
and understanding of issues about the rights and dignity of persons with mental, cognitive and intellectual
disabilities through the online training and face-to-face training activities implemented in Ghana from
2018 to 2022. It must be mentioned that during the period of implementation, over 17,000 Ghanaians did
the online training and obtained the certificates.
MFGh has partnered with different organizations in Ghana and outside, in various fields of endeavour
particularly in issues of mental health, human rights and policy formulation.
We commit ourselves to policies that safeguard and protect the rights of persons with mental disabilities
including women and children. Therefore, we have in place the following policies which staff of
MindFreedom Ghana and consultants who provide services must strictly adhere to. This includes a
Safeguarding Policy which reflects national and global best practices and standards in safeguarding
persons of vulnerability and at risk of abuse. Other policies are the Code of Conduct for Staff and Sexual
Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (SEA-H). Our SEA-H policy and procedure which is revised every
two years and approved by the Board for all staff and representatives of MFGh.
We do not spin the same wheel as others might. We have a unique leadership style i.e. we have a
participatory leadership that aims to involve as many people in decisions as are practicable and which are
often made by consensus.
Our organizational design, policies, plans, procedures and roles are well in place and suitably structured
for optimum results. At MindFreedom Ghana, our experiences with fundraising spanning over a decade
have shown that funders give to projects they can trust and concepts they believe in. For this reason, we
make sure that the donor(s) directly sees the result(s) of their donation(s).
We pride ourselves as a credible steward of the donor(s) trust. This is why we continue to retain our
current donors and it is this that gives us the confidence that we would recruit new and repeat donors. We
regard the funds that come to us as an expression or extension of the donor(s) faith in our organization
capabilities.
We stand out as an organization that is quick to understand a donor’s passions and what drives them. We
show gratitude to our donors and continue to look for best ways to positively project our donors and to
keep them satisfied.
We use compelling storytelling with images, videos and photos that connect our donor’s funds to a
tangible impact. We provide transparency into details about our story.
We regard honesty as the best policy and as such we do not overpromise and underdeliver. We always
prove ourselves trustworthy to our donors, partners, stakeholders and beneficiaries of our programmes.
We are open to making a collective impact by teaming up with other organizations. Our decision is
informed by some key lessons learnt from the previous collaborative engagements, including saving costs
through sharing administrative expenses; expanding value propositions; improving efficiency;
strengthening programs; making use of compatible skills and abilities; and improving leadership skills.
WHAT WE SAY
Lack of support affecting mental health conditions – MindFreedom Ghana. Creating Awareness on Mental Health Conditions and Stigma Against Persons with Mental Disorders in Ghana
Empowering People with Psychosocial Disabilities to Fight for Their Rights: Implementing the CRPD and WHO QualityRights Principles In Ghana. Empowering People with Psychosocial Disabilities to Fight for Their Rights:
To support development of guidelines to regulate prayer camps in Ghana, for integration into the draft Legislative Instrument which will provide an implementation framework for the new Mental Health Act of 2012
