During the blogging training session

New Rising Voices grantee Public Fund “Mental Health” conducted their first blogging training session in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The training, called “I Want To Be Heard,” was organized for eight representatives of vulnerable groups , such as those with HIV/AIDS and mental health issues, and non-profits working with these groups.

During the training, mental health activists introduced the project and assessed the needs of the audience. They also presented the general concept of blogging, described the opportunities it provides, and talked about the goals of blogging and other similar technologies. The brainstorming that followed the discussion helped identify a few new ideas for joint projects. The most popular idea was establishing a virtual meeting club for people from the vulnerable groups.

Nadezhda Vladimirova, the project's leader, described the challenges and opportunities of the new blogging project in an interview.

Nadezhda thinks that the development of citizen media skills gives vulnerable groups new opportunities to defend their rights and advocate their needs. At the same time, though, she drew attention to several challenges that could potentially impact the project's success.

According to Nadezhda, the biggest challenge could be the attempts of Kazakh authorities to limit freedom of the Internet. She pointed out that a few days ago, the Kazakh government blocked access to the most popular Russian language blogging platform LifeJournal. The government explained its decision by stating that LifeJournal goes against a Kazakh court decision to block Web pages that criticize the Kazakh president.

Public Fund “Mental Health” training

Another challenge the project might face is the very low level of computer literacy among representatives of the vulnerable groups and an absence of technical facilities. Nadezhda elaborates:

Most of our clients just do not know what the Internet is about and what opportunities it gives. Many of our clients have never used a computer. As for now, we let our clients use the Internet in our office but it is not enough. In addition, once a week we organize classes on how to use a computer so that our clients can work on their own.

Nadezhda thinks that the project's success should be based on the following:

One of the vital steps for the development of the project is cooperation with other organizations. That is why we actively disseminate information about the project among our partners and involve them in developing new forms of cooperation. As of today, we can list a few nongovernmental organizations that work with us. First of all, we should mention Kazakh Union of People Living with HIV/AIDS, which unites nine HIV servicing organizations, and the nongovernmental organization “Doveriye+,” which serves vulnerable groups, such as people recently released from prison, injection drug users, etc. Cooperation with these organizations allowed us to organize the first training event and I hope it will help us accomplish our next step, which is to start Web blogs for the activists and clients of these organizations.

According to Nadezhda, two things are needed to increase interest in citizen media among vulnerable groups: understanding the specific needs of these people and explaining the basics of blogging and what opportunities it provides.

Public Fund “Mental Health,” which has members that are living with HIV, believes that there is a lack of communication between people living with HIV/AIDS and society. The Kazakhstan community of HIV-positive people is not well represented on the Internet, as community members don't have the basic skills and knowledge to work on the Web. This means that society doesn't have a chance to learn more about the issues that HIV-positive people face. Public Fund “Mental Health” will be using this grant money to try and eliminate this communication gap by teaching HIV-positive people to use Web-blogs to express their thoughts, needs, and ideas.

As part of this citizen media education program, the organization's staff and volunteers are going to train 50 HIV-positive people in Web-blogging and will help them develop Web pages so they can share their stories with the world. The “Mental Health” activists are also planing to publish a quarterly online bulletin that will cover the most significant issues people living with HIV/AIDS face in Kazakhstan. In addition, the Fund is planning to post stories of its trainees, including video and audio files, on its Web site.

The organization hopes that the skills obtained in using these new technologies will help HIV-positive people advocate for better quality medical service. The initiators of this project would also like to help the HIV-positive community in Kazakhstan establish connections with similar communities in other countries.

Until now, the biggest project that “Mental Health” has established is the Expert Center for Mental Health Assistance, formed in 2006 for people living with HIV/AIDS, their families, partners, and caregivers.

The members of Public Fund “Mental Health” explain why they think that those living with HIV/AIDS are especially in need of mental health assistance on their Web site:

The severity and complicity of diseases such as HIV/AIDS often leads to serious problems with the mental health of infected people, as well as their partners, families, friends. HIV infected people who suffer from depression, and drug and alcohol abuse are less likely to get tested but more likely to be involved in risky behavior…This tangle of interrelated issues deserves the highest attention, but often is ignored all over the world.

The organization's experts say that for high risk groups, mental health issues may occur at every stage of HIV detection:

Representatives of risk groups need psychological assistance while going through all these steps:

1. Perturbed, waiting for results of HIV test
2. The “I hate the entire world” feeling when the patient learns about his or her HIV status. This is the moment they become rude, excessively demanding…
3. The patient accepts the idea of being HIV infected. During this period a person normally wants to stop drug consumption and take care of their health.
4. The infected people break down into two groups: a smaller group of people live with hypochondriac symptoms and a larger group of patients ignore the fact that they are infected and continue to consume drugs on a regular basis.

To help HIV-positive people overcome mental health problems, the center implements public awareness programs focused on fighting stigma, trains caregivers (including counselors, social workers and activists from risk groups), and publishes health education literature.