Background Information
MindFreedom Kenya was set up to improve the mental health and lives of sufferers and survivors in Kenya. The organization also seeks to develop and facilitate the provision of rehabilitative schemes that would ease the re-integration of the mentally ill into the society.
MindFreedom Kenya aims increase understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with psychosocial disabilities, contribute to ending the stigma involved and ending violations of human rights to advance civic, economic and social participation of persons with psychosocial disabilities in Kenya.
MindFreedom Kenya is an affiliate formed in response to identified gaps in mental health rights, lack of adequate information about substance abuse and impact to society and those directly affected. Since its inception, MindFreedom Kenya has endeavored to develop efforts to transform and diversify the marginalized and the most vulnerable-persons with psychosocial disabilities. It helps users and survivors to be involved in care planning and making informed decisions about their care and upholding of human rights, advocating inhumane treatment and creating awareness about substance abuse and psychosocial disabilities.
MindFreedom Kenya?s most important advocacy priority is to educate users and survivors, the general public about the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which says We users and survivors have equal right to legal capacity, which is the right to make our own decisions; and the right to free and informed consent in health care; and that we should not be deprived of liberty based on disability - which means that the Kenyan governments is violating this treaty if they lock up users and survivors in psychiatric institutions and do forced treatment. The Kenyan government also has positive obligations, to provide support and services needed to live in the community, and to provide access to support in exercising legal capacity if a psychosocial disabled person wants this support.
Support in exercising legal capacity is the opposite of guardianship, because it means psychosocially disabled person is in control of her/his own decisions and chooses the kind of help that she/he wants.
