Egal Shidad hosts community meeting about mental health: Partners of the Egal Shidad project are hard at work on the the first of three Somali health programs. Mental health is the topic, and on Friday May 30, 2008, twelve members of the Somali community living and working in the Twin Cities gathered to offer insight.

The participants' animated discussion addressed many different aspects of mental health including specific kinds of mental illness, stigmas, and symptoms. Key themes included keeping the audience engaged and linking to cultural practices, as well as correcting myths about causes and treatments. For more detail, please open the attached summary of the meeting.

At the end of the meeting, participants talked about ways to keep working together. Many appreciated the opportunity to gather and address such an important issue in this community. It was clear that this event energized participants and provided insight crucial to developing a successful program.

The Egal Shidad truly appreciates the time and effort of those who attended this meeting. THANK YOU!

Egal Shidad: Stories of Somali Health is a project intended to strengthen Somali immigrant families through video, radio and print stories about healthy lives. A collaboration of Somali media producers and health providers is developing three new health education units for Somali audiences that may also be used for cultural competency training with health care providers treating Somali patients, and as English Language Learning (ELL) classroom learning tools.

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