News
COVID-19 Stories of Change: PDO Kenya
PDO Kenya took the challenge of COVID-19 head on & dived into providing support, right from their organisation members to communities to frontline healthcare workers despite running low on funds. Know more about their inspirational journey!
Ember Innovators' Huddle 2 featuring a virtual garden tour
The second edition of Ember Innovators' Huddle featured a virtual garden tour. Read on to know more details.
COVID-19 Stories of Change: Open Hands, Botswana
The COVID-19 pandemic further revealed the vulnerabilities of the LGBTQI+ communities and their mental health needs in Botswana. Here's how Open Hands evolved ways to provide them with continued support.
Behind the screen: A Zoom portrait series
So much of the power of community-based mental health initiatives lies in their teams. For World Mental Health Day, we wanted to celebrate these people. This beautiful series was created by London-based photographer Sadé Elufowoju and South Africa-based, aspiring psychologist Kelebogile Motlopye.
COVID-19 Stories of Change: RTCCD, Vietnam
Participatory approach enabled a smooth transition to remote working for RTCCD, yet, surviving on half the funding continues to be a challenge. Here's how they continue to support their community during the pandemic.
COVID-19 Stories of Change: SPANS, Zimbabwe
SPANS Zimbabwe provides mental health support to families. Here's how they have adapted their ways of working with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 Stories of Change: Mental Health Service Users’ Association, Ethiopia
MSUA is a collective of people with lived experience of mental health issues who advocate for the rights of people with mental disorders in Ethiopia. Here's their journey of overcoming challenges during COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 Stories of Change: CMC, Nepal
CMC-Nepal collaborates with the government to strengthen human resources in mental health and provide mental health services to the community - all, in a previous era, in person. How have they adapted to the new normal?
COVID-19 Stories of Change: Green String Network, Kenya
Green String Network works in post-conflict communities to break cycles of violence through creative therapies. Read their journey about how they are supporting communities in these times of uncertainty.
COVID-19 Stories of Change: Huertomanías, Ecuador
Huertomanías is an urban gardening collective of people living with severe mental disorders. Given that their work centres around the garden, applying the concept of 'remote working' required a lot of creativity, yet they emerged strong than ever. Here's how.
COVID-19 Stories of Change: Burans, India
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, all services delivered by Burans in the communities with which they work required face-to-face interactions, many times also in group settings. Here's how they navigated hurdles of COVID-19 and lockdown.
COVID-19 Stories of Change: Punto de Encuentro, Argentina
Punto de Encuentro supports the mental health and wellbeing of women at risk of domestic violence by helping them reach financial independence through the development of skills. Read their journey of how they have adapted their services in these testing times.
COVID-19 Stories of Change: CAFS, Sri Lanka
A central part of CAFS' activities is the safe, welcoming and comfortable space where they deliver counselling and other services, which had to be shut with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. Read their journey of transition and how they have adapted their services to continue supporting their clients in these testing times.
Service before self or self before service? The paradox of the mental health of mental health workers
On airplanes, we’re always told that in an emergency you should put your own oxygen mask on before turning to help others. We see strong parallels in the current situation. If mental health workers aren’t able to support their own mental health, how can they deliver sustainable care to others, not just in times of crisis but in the long-term?
COVID-19 Stories of Change: MH+WB, Kenya
How did MH+WB adapt when Kenya’s universities closed due to COVID-19? Read about their challenges and their enablers during this transition in Ember's COVID-19 Stories Of Change series.
7 insights into community-based mental health responses to Covid-19
When the pandemic became acute, our first response was to ask the project's we're working with how it was affecting them. Here's what we learnt from listening to what to they had to say.
Adapt, Survive, Think Differently: Lessons from Afghanistan’s CBMHP during the Covid-19 Crisis
For the team behind the Community Based Mental Health Project (CBMHP) in Afghanistan, turbulence and uncertainty are nothing new.
MH+WB gets a brand makeover
MH+WB have had considerable success in their work at Kenyatta and Chukka Universities. But they faced a challenge to do with their visual identity - they didn't really have one. Ember worked with them to create one.
5 insights into community-based mental health
At the end of 2019, Ember spoke with 130+ mental health initiatives in low-resource contexts to select the 12 partners we would work with in 2020. This is a snapshot of what we learned from those conversations..
Ember Launches Wellbeing & Transformation Funds
We're launching two funds to provide support to the mental health initiatives we work with as they face the pandemic and look to the future.
Our values in a time of crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all our lives in many ways. We've reflected on how we want to respond to this crisis and defined the five values that underpin our approach.
The Secret to Virtual Working
Digital technology has always been central to Ember’s way of working. Now, amidst the coronavirus crisis, the whole world is learning how to work online, so we thought we'd share what works for us.
Surprise Announcement: Five more Ember partners for 2020
Last month we announced the 7 projects Ember will be working with this year. But that wasn't the full story. At the time, 7 projects was all Ember had the resources to work with. Since then, there have been some very exciting developments.
From Ecuador to Ethiopia: Introducing Ember's 2020 partners
Featuring grassroots innovators from Ecuador to Ethiopia, we're excited to introduce the seven projects partnering with Ember in 2020.
Mental Health in Africa Conference
Ember was featured at the Royal Africa Society's conference on Mental Health in Africa as part of the innovation fair, where we highlighted the work of the incredible innovators we've partnered with.
The Ember Call-Out 2019 has now closed
We've been amazed by the response. 159 applications were submitted from 48 countries.
Ember Call Out: En Español & En Français
Ember está convocando solicitudes de proyectos de salud mental basados en la comunidad que trabajen en países de bajos y medianos ingresos. // Ember est en quête de candidatures de projets communautaires sur la santé mentale, venant de pays à revenus bas et moyens.
Ember Call Out: Applications now open!
Ember is calling for applications from community-based mental health projects and organisations working in low- and middle- income countries. Successful applicants will take part in a 12-month process designed to strengthen and grow their work.
Ember Stories Volume 2
Ember believes mental health interventions that grow out of communities are uniquely equipped to overcome issues of stigma and engage people in meaningful, culturally- sensitive ways. That’s why Ember’s focus is on supporting and strengthening grassroots innovation in global mental health.
Mental health in Kenya – an interview with Iregi Mwenja
One of the innovators that Ember work with is PDO in Kenya. I interviewed Iregi, the founder of PDO, to gain an insight into the services that this organisation provides, as well as the reason that such services are needed.
One year of Ember: What we've learnt so far
Over the last year Ember has worked with some incredible innovations in global mental health - and learnt a lot in the process. There are three insights in particular that will guide our work going forward.
Stories of grassroots mental health care
To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, we have gathered reflections from a variety of people working in this area, in different parts of the world and in different ways. We asked them to reflect on their work and why grassroots voices matter
The Tree that Jaya Grew: Using Tree of Life in the Rural Indian Himalayas
Jaya* was only 9 years old when I met her. She lived across the path from the house where I was staying, in a village at the foothills of the Indian Himalayas.
Finding a ray of hope: FaNs for Kids' story
FaNs for Kids is one of the innovations working with Ember. In September, this story was presented at the Time to Act Event at the United Nations General Assembly, in New York.
Buena Semilla wins Gates Award for Planting Seeds and Nurturing Change
In May 2018, the Gates Foundation announced an initial seed grant to Buena Semilla as part of Grand Challenges Explorations.
Beneficence and Global Mental Health
Grace Ryan - I’m sitting in a white pick-up truck with Philip Ode, Coordinator of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Programme (CCMHP) in Benue State, Nigeria. The driver is deftly dodging motorcycle taxis and top-heavy semis loaded with tomatoes, yams, long-horned cattle… they call Benue State “Nigeria’s Food Basket” for a reason.
Global Disability Summit 2018
On 24th July, the first Global Disability Summit took place in London, co-hosted by the UK Government, the International Disability Alliance and the Government of Kenya.
Introducing Ember
The Ember Project’s mission is to find, connect and support innovators with the tools, resources and skills needed to sustain and scale up their innovations. Ember is a collaboration between The SHM Foundation and the Mental Health Innovation Network team at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Ember is a collaboration between the SHM Foundation and the Mental Health Innovation Network.
