I am the founder and President of Heartsounds a support group in Uganda. Our main agenda is peer support and raising mental health awareness to combat stigma and discrimination.
The peer support program I started with went well and has been taken over by our ministry of health through our national referral hospital Butabika hospital to be rolled out across the whole country. I have now concentrated on raising mental health awareness to combat stigma which I think is very, very important.
I believe stigma and discrimination is more disabling than the mental illness itself. At the sacrifice of my family's reputation I have been guest speaker to about 20 Rotary clubs raising mental health awareness by sharing my story and showing that recovery is possible though one may continue taking medication as in my case getting a monthly depot injection of haldol but I have managed to raise a family and stay married to my lovely and brave wife Harriet for 23 years, our 1st born is at the university.