Story By anne stein

Rotary has a remarkable record when it comes to health initiatives.

We’ve helped bring polio to the brink of eradication, and clubs have carried out ​myriad projects focused on preventing disease and supporting maternal and ​child health.

Now the global pandemic has brought attention to another aspect of health that ​is often overlooked: mental health. In many places, depression, anxiety, and ​suicide are seen as things to be ashamed of and kept quiet. But Rotary members ​are recognizing the gaps in understanding and resources and are stepping up to ​help.

More than 264 million people worldwide are affected by depression, according to ​the World Health Organisation.

“A year ago, we had 50 members of the Rotary Action Group on Mental Health ​Initiatives,” says Bonnie Black, a member of the Rotary Club of Plattsburgh, New ​York, and the chair of the action group. “We’ve tripled our membership during ​the pandemic, and I believe it’s due to the heightened awareness of mental ​health and wellness.” 

More than 264 million people worldwide are affected by depression, according to ​the World Health Organisation, and although many mental health conditions can ​be effectively treated at relatively low cost, many people who need treatment do ​not receive it. 

Felix-Kingsley Obialo, a member of the Rotary Club of Ibadan Idi-Ishin, Nigeria, manages the local arm of a project called Wellness in a Box, which his club has worked on in partnership with the Rotary Club of Wellesley, Massachusetts.

“Mental health is an area that has been neglected by many people for too long because of the stigma associated with it,” says Obialo. “The involvement of Rotary clubs will gradually reduce the stigma, and more and more people will begin to be comfortable around the issue.”

Mental health is an area that has been neglected by many people for too long because of the stigma associated with it. The involvement of Rotary clubs will gradually reduce the stigma, and more and more people will begin to be comfortable around the issue.

When Pia Skarabis-Querfeld saw refugees pouring into Germany to escape war and other atrocities in 2014, the Berlin-based doctor felt compelled to help. Skarabis-Querfeld, a member of the Rotary Club of Kleinmachnow, eventually launched a nonprofit called Medizin Hilft (Medicine Helps).

With support from a Rotary Foundation global grant and clubs around the globe, the nearly all-volunteer organization donates thousands of hours of medical care to refugees and migrants each year.   

But doctors in the group quickly noticed that in addition to needing care for physical ailments, about half of their patients had symptoms of psychological problems or psychiatric disorders, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction.

In 2020, the Rotary Club of Morehead City-Lookout, North Carolina, worked with Medizin Hilft to secure another global grant that allows the organization to offer free mental health services.

Under the guidance of Ulla Michels-Vermeulen, a psychologist who is also a member of the Kleinmachnow club, psychologists, psychiatrists, translators, and social workers help people like Fatma, a Syrian nurse who once treated bomb attack victims. When the situation became too dangerous in Syria, she left home.

But fleeing was traumatic, explains Michels-Vermeulen.

While crossing the Mediterranean, Fatma watched several passengers drown before another vessel came to the rescue of their drifting boat. She spent time in a refugee camp, where people slept in tents, there were no doctors, and there was not enough to eat. She was sexually assaulted several times on the journey.

“Fatma has been accepted to stay [in Germany] and is going to school to learn German, but she is still getting counselling. She is suffering from nightmares, sleeplessness, concentration problems, and flashbacks,” Michels-Vermeulen says.

“It costs society a lot if we ignore these mental health problems. And it’s a human right to get support if you are ill.”

Learn more about the Rotary Action Group on Mental Health initiatives here.