MMN June Mag 2026 Online - Flipbook - Page 4
Bringing Light to Dark Places
Contributed by Ian & Claire Ferrer, PRIME Nepal
T
his is the seventh year that
we have taught and travelled across Nepal raising
mental health awareness
as a team with PRIME (a
small UK-based Chris琀椀an charity:
Partnerships in Interna琀椀onal Medical Educa琀椀on).
Knowledge about mental health
is poor in Nepal, where it remains
mostly taboo to talk about mental
health or illness. Sadly, this is evidenced in sta琀椀s琀椀cs on suicide: the
suicide rates in Nepal are at least
three 琀椀mes that of the UK, and
these are underreported, mainly
because of s琀椀gma.
3
Training
We have developed a two-day
course over the last four years as
an introduc琀椀on to mental health
and this includes teaching on
compassion, ac琀椀ve listening skills,
behavioural ac琀椀va琀椀on, trauma informed care, self-care and suicide
preven琀椀on. Wherever we teach in
churches, biblical references are
embedded in the teaching material and this enables pastors and
church leaders to access and embrace the concepts more easily.
In autumn 2025, over a six week period, we travelled 2732km, mostly
