After her son, the family’s shining light and only breadwinner, was arrested last year, Tambudzai Tembo experienced a severe emotional breakdown. In Zimbabwe, where clinical mental health services are limited, her chances of receiving professional help were almost nonexistent. She even contemplated suicide.
“I didn’t want to live anymore. People who saw me would think everything was okay. But inside, my head was spinning,” the 57-year-old said. “I was on my own.”
A wooden bench and an empathetic grandmother saved her.
Older people are at the center of a homegrown mental health therapy in Zimbabwe, which is now being adopted in places like the United States.
The approach involves setting up benches in quiet, discreet corners of community clinics, some churches, poor neighborhoods, and at a university. An older woman with basic training in problem-solving therapy patiently sits there, ready to listen and engage in a one-on-one conversation.
The therapy is inspired by traditional practice in Zimbabwe, where grandmothers were the go-to people for wisdom in rough times. This practice had been abandoned with urbanization, the breakdown of tight-knit extended families, and modern technology. Now, it is proving useful again as mental health needs grow.
