Towards an Integrated Approach to Mental Health in Timor Leste, Report on 2015 Forum to the World Health Organisation and Office of the President of TL

Kakuma, R., Palmer. L. and Barnes, S. 2015. Towards an Integrated Approach to Mental Health in Timor Leste. 'Report on 2015 Forum to the World Health Organisation and Office of the President of TL.'

This Forum was convened to report on the findings of a scoping study carried out in early 2015 by researchers from The University of Melbourne and Monash University in Australia together with the Timorese Ministry of Health (MoH)1. The long‐term aims of this research were, and continue to be, 1) to clarify the role of customary health and healing practices in mental health and mental health care seeking behaviours of the Timorese population as well as stakeholder perspectives on its potential role in the mental health care system in Timor Leste; and 2) to assist the Timorese Ministry of Health (MoH) to develop mental health services that effectively integrate customary practices with mainstream mental health care and improve the quality and coverage of services across the country.

Three key findings from the scoping study were that 1) traditional healers and customary practices were considered critical in the success of mainstream treatment for any health condition to open the pathway to healing; 2) there is an urgent need to fully understand customary practices, underlying principles and traditional healers’ perspectives about health and mainstream health services, to build effective partnerships with the traditional healer community; and 3) collaboration with East Timorese researchers is a critical component of advancing knowledge.

07-Jul-2015

Kakuma et al 15 Mental Health Report.pdf