Description
Cape Mental Health is a registered non-profit organisation (NPO 003-264) and public benefit organisation (PBO Ref. 18/11/13/4456) that provides or facilitates comprehensive, pro-active and enabling mental health services in the Western Cape.
We are committed to challenging socially restrictive and discriminatory practices affecting the mental health of all people. Our work is underpinned by a commitment to quality, excellence and professionalism at all times.
Our slogan – all about ability – reflects our unified purpose of recognising and nurturing the abilities of our service-users, our staff and our volunteers. We see possibility where some may only see challenges and obstacles; we focus on ABILITY rather than DISABILITY.
In 2011/2012 we provided services to 3,347 services-users, but if their families are included, then the actual number of beneficiaries for the year was 15,061.
We offer a range of 22 community-based programmes and landmark advocacy initiatives for the development and rights of people with mental disabilities (both intellectual and psychiatric) and for the promotion of mental health.
Cape Mental Health is also at the forefront of a dynamic movement to promote global awareness of mental health issues. Our reach has extended beyond the boundaries of the Western Cape to national and International levels.
In 2011, we played an important role in hosting the ‘African Footprint in Global Mental Health 2011’ World Mental Health Congress, and hosted our 17th Cape Town International Kite Festival, which celebrated ‘One Sky, One World — Mental Health for All”. Our kite theme was adopted by the S A Federation for Mental Health and our 16 ‘sister’ mental health societies as a symbol of upliftment and recovery.
As we approach our centenary in 2013, we are renewing our efforts to bring about a mind-shift in society, to challenge the stigma and prejudice that persons with mental disabilities encounter almost daily.
