GRF 2nd One Health Summit 2013: Presentation by Jed Magen, Michigan State University

1. Training Imams in Basic Mental
Health Care: Capacity Building in
Muslim Communities
Jed Magen DO MS
Farha Abbasi MD
College of Osteopathic Medicine
Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

2. “No Health Without Mental Health”
• Mental Health and Substance Use
Disorders are 2nd leading cause of
Disability Adjusted Life Years
worldwide
• Depressive Disorders account for
40% of mental health issues
Global Burden of Disease Attributable to mental
and substance use disorders: findings from the
global burden of disease study 2010 Lancet
382:9904;1575-1586

3. “No Health Without Mental Health”
The economic burdens associated
with mental disorders exceed those
associated with each of four other
major categories of noncommunicable
disease:
diabetes, cardiovascular diseases,
chronic respiratory diseases and
cancer.

4. One Health concepts as applied to
Mental Health:
• integrated approaches to
human/environment problems
• identifying risk
• prevention
• intervention and policy

5. One Health concepts as applied to
Muslim Mental Health:
• understanding multiple inputs in
the environment and resultant
dysfunctions in communities and
ecosystems resulting in individual
disorders.

6. INTRODUCTION
• Multilevel
stakeholders
– International
– National
– Local/community
• Community
members
• Community leaders
– Ethnic
– Religious
One Health

7. One Health Concepts as applied to
Muslim Mental Health:
• understanding community
organization
• understanding epidemiology of
disorders in community

8. One Health Concepts as applied to
Muslim Mental Health:
• identifying community stakeholders,
leaders
• identifying interventions that are
accepted, can be implemented by
lay persons and will be effective

9. Interviews with 300,000 US
households
• anger, stresses, and worry are more
likely to be reported by some
groups of Muslim Americans than
by their racial counterparts and
other faiths.

10. • Muslim Americans were the least
likely religious group to be
thriving, especially when
compared with Jewish Americans
and Mormons.
•
Muslim youth age 18 to 28 were the
least happy and most angry
compared to youth of other faith
groups.
Muslim Americans: A National Portrait."
Gallup Center for Muslim Studies 2009

11. Muslim Mental Health Initiatives
Objectives
• developing resilience in the
Muslim community by engaging,
educating and empowering.
• keeping hierarchal and
collectivistic approaches of these
groups, the community and
religious leaders

12. This model can easily be applied to
other minority groups.

13. Community Organization
F a m ily - I m m e d ia t e o r E x e n d e d
A lt e r n a t iv e M e d ic in e P r a c t it io n e r
C o m m u n it y E ld e r
P r im a r y C a r e P r o v id e r
M e n t a l H e a lt h S e r v ic e s
R e lig io u s / S p ir it u a l L e a d e r

14. Muslim Mental Health Conferences
Stakeholders
• community leaders
• religious leaders=Imams
• other interested individuals

15. Muslim Mental Health Conferences
• collaboration with large, well
connected community welfare
organizations
• Muslim psychiatrist from academic
department leads
• agreement with key stakeholders
on topics
• effective collaborations

16. Goals
• Awareness
• Acceptance
• Access

17. Muslim Mental Health Initiatives
•Improving awareness of the
frequency and importance of
mental health issues

18. awareness
•
•
•
•
•
active listening
cultural sensitivity
trauma management
community-based activities
community empowerment

19. Acceptance

20. Decreasing the sense of isolation by
teaching cultural competence to the
non-Muslim Providers. Educating
them about Islamophobia as a form
of racism, creating more acceptance
around spiritual/religious practices.

21. ACCESS
• barriers to care
• health disparities
• faith based mental health

22. Training Imam’s/chaplains to better
understand behavioral disorders,
handle mental health crises and to
be able to refer to mental health
services.

23. Impact
• over 100 Imams and community
leaders trained as first aid mental
health workers.
• more awareness in congregations.
• decrease in stigma?

24. Impact
• increased willingness to seek help
and treatment?
• mental health training has become a
component of Islamic chaplaincy
training.

25. Next Steps
secure funding for community
surveys
• mosques where Imam has training
vs those where there is no training