Feb
March trip 2020: Lesley and Joanna: Case study writing and safeguarding
training, increasing sustainability for the ZART trainers’ group, and extending
the reach of The Zambia Therapeutic Art Course.
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| Joanna and Lesley in a rare moment of relaxation! |
We (Lesley and Joanna) made the last visit of
this Scottish Government funded Capacity Building year with additional support
from MAITS. We staggered the trip,
Lesley going out first joined by Joanna after a week or so and she stayed on
when Lesley left; so, between us we were there for a month. It was still at the
end of the rainy season, so life was interspersed with thunderous downpours and
everything was looking lush and green. In fact, the rains had brought some
flooding and damage to roads. There was also a brief, and very unusual for
Zambia, outburst of community violence which did affect everyday life for a lot
of the country. We were safely positioned at Gossner Mission and weren’t
attempting to work in any of the most affected areas, so apart from not going
out at night – which we don’t do a lot of! we were not affected. There were, however,
some very tragic outcomes. Fortunately,
we undertook this trip just ahead of the coronavirus shut-downs.
The Case
Study Writing Training was part of ZTA’s initiative to increase the evidence
base for the use of Therapeutic Art (TA), as well as an opportunity for
increasing skills in writing for publication amongst ZART and others trained in
use of TA. Wala, a ZART trainer,
coordinated the training planning which was delivered by Psychology Association
of Zambia. It was a very successful 3 days training and all 10 participants, 6
ZART members and 4 other Therapeutic Art practitioners, enjoyed the process and
learned a lot from each other as well as the excellent facilitators. They will
receive ongoing support to work towards publication of their case studies. 
Safeguarding
training was delivered to ZART trainers (Lesley) and included a
presentation from Chief Detective Inspector Siabone from the Zambia Police
Service Victim Support Unit. This
introductory training was welcomed by ZART; as the concept of safeguarding is
fairly new in Zambia, they were interested in further trainings and also
linkage with the victim support unit.
Capacity
Building Project Evaluation. At a
meeting with Margarate Munakampe, our Zambian coordinator we discussed her
findings on the data gathering initiatives and the concept of safeguarding and its
growth in Zambian organisations.
ZART team progress.
ZART members gave feedback regarding the progress of the project over the year
and updates on their experiences of delivering The ZTA Course independently
from ZTA trainers. They also gave feedback about the ZTA Course Manual and some
useful and thoughtful alterations and additions.
Future planning. Meetings with the Ministry
of Health (MoH)
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| Cielle with Lesley and James |
mental health team led to some useful discussions as to how to
continue to extend the reach of TA in health institutions across Zambia. Extending
the ZTA course to Community Mental Health staff was also discussed as a
priority. ZTA and the MoH will work together to progress towards these joint
goals. Other meetings focusing on extending the reach of The ZTA Course, were with
‘Challenges Zambia’ who are going to do
a scoping exercise, and a visit to the
Centre of Excellence (Paediatric HIV), in UTH which will hopefully yield
training opportunities as the team there were very interested. A meeting with the Health Professions Council
of Zambia was also valuable in exploring how TA skills could fit into
continuing professional development staff frameworks. Useful meetings with
leads from CIDRZ (Centre for Infectious disease Research Zambia) Mental Health
Unit and CBM enabled networking and our sharing of our different and related
initiatives. One aim is to collaboratively coordinate our efforts to strengthen
the delivery of Psychosocial therapies within Zambia. A visit from an Art
Therapist, Cielle, interested in setting up a similar TA training in Zimbabwe
was an added pleasure. She was introduced to the ZART team and the UTH
psychiatry department and has now introduced us to interested mental health
professionals in Zimbabawe.
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| slowly and steadily! |
As always
being in Lusaka, catching up with friends and colleagues and enjoying the haven
of Gossner Mission was a welcome break from the Scottish winter. Overall, this
busy and intensive trip was very productive. It feels as though the awareness
of Therapeutic Art and its value is growing and deepening and the experience
and confidence of ZART is continuing to develop impressively. We seem poised to
move on to the next stages of our Strategic Plan.
