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FSoS assistant professor leads teen suicide reduction workshop in Uganda
Ron Asiimwe, assistant professor in Family Social Science, is working to improve the mental health of Ugandan youth supported by a Global Engagement Grant (GEG) of the Global Health and Social Change Research (GHSCR) at the University of Minnesota.
Asiimwe and collaborators from Makerere University, Kabale University, and the Africa Center for Suicide Prevention in Uganda, led a two-day workshop on family-based intervention for preventing teen suicide in Western Uganda.
Attracting 38 mental health professionals from western Uganda, the workshop took a deep dive into understanding teen suicide, including the predominant cultural beliefs about suicide in Uganda, and introduced professionals to one of the top evidence-based family therapy approaches—Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT).
The workshop was well-received, and participants expressed a strong desire for more family-based approaches to adolescent mental health and continued learning opportunities in ABFT. In post-training evaluation interviews, Asiimwe and his team learned more about how participants perceived the intervention and how fits into their cultural and practice contexts.
In addition, Asiimwe was interviewed on a local TV station, Revival TV, where he discussed teen suicide and prevention strategies for parents, caregivers, and other adults (the interview is in Runyankole, the dialect of the region). Watch the interview.
Left to right: Dr. Herbert Ainamani, clinical psychologist from Kabale University, Dr. Rosco Kasujja, clinical psychologist and head of the Mental Health Department, Makerere University, Kampala (both of Uganda), and Ron Asiimwe, assistant professor, Family Social Science, University of Minnesota.