Your Ally Foundation, Inc. | Beginning of the Year Newsletter

Beginning of the Year Newsletter

January, 26th 2022, Issue 1

What’s inside this issue: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE

ORGANIZATION

Your Ally Foundation: Our Journey.

Written by Susan Wilkinson & Julie Nakityo

As Your Ally Foundation Inc, our primary mandate is to bridge the gap between support for Primary caregivers, including immediate family members, friends, policy makers, educators, and the recovery community in the African Diaspora in the New England area, Uganda, and Zambia.

We provide evidence-based tools to facilitate and invite folks to change perception of substance use disorders. Everyone who cares about a loved one struggling with substance use is welcome to engage with us.

Our approach is one of collaboration and not competition. By engaging with local non-profits that are vetted and have knowledge of addiction treatment and family support landscape, we can stretch our resources for the communities we are serving.

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Your Ally Foundation: Our Journey.

Written by Susan Wilkinson & Julie Nakityo

Iam reaching out to let you know about the journey that Your Ally Foundation Inc has been undertaking thus far; from inception to our current goals for the 2023-2025.

But first, I want to remind you that the Season of Giving Campaign is happening now. With this incredible opportunity in effect, your gift will enable us to accomplish, and double our impact in the communities we serve.

Your Ally Foundation, Inc was conceived out of an identified need to support families whose loved one struggle with substance use disorders and related mental health conditions. As the founder, a clinician, and a caretaker professionally and personally, the impact of substance use disorders on families and other support systems cannot be understated.

Your Ally Foundation, Inc (YAF) was a registered on 23rd-December- 2019. With the onset of the pandemic, we spent the 2020-2021, in the formative phase; working with various entities to help us lay a framework from which to operate, and to work on strategic collaborations. I am pleased to inform you that, even in the pandemic, we were able to obtain the nonprofit from the Internal Revenue Services, 501 (C) (3) status in the United States of America; Boston Massachusetts where our Headquarters are located. We embarked on registrations in Uganda and Zambia in 2021.

In November 2021, I underwent a training with the Center of Motivation for Change; Foundation for

Change’s Invitation to Change (ITC) and got my level 1 certification. Through the training, it became clear to me that CMC; FFC is the collaborator we needed, and ITC is the program that was suitable to meet the specific needs of the communities that we serve. These communities include The African Diaspora in the New England area, Uganda, and Zambia. With laborious discussions on both ends, the folks at CMC; FFC took a chance on us.

March 2022, we trained the first team through the above collaboration. Four trainees in Uganda and four trainees in Boston; a total of eight trainees. This was daunting effort; time difference between Uganda and Boston was brought to fruition by the virtual trainings that CMC; FFC continues to offer.

From September 30th through November 30th, another group was trained virtually. This time, we had two groups concurrently training: from Zambia and Uganda. In total twenty-three trainee from Zambia completed the two full 8-hour days of ITC training. Ten trainees from Uganda completed the same bring the total number of trainees to thirty-three trainees. Of the thirty-three trainees, twenty-eight trainees went on to complete the level 1 training earning their certifications as level 1 providers of ITC.

On December 1st, Dr. Jeff Foote, PhD (Co- President and CEO) and Ms. Meg Murray the Executive Director for Foundation for Change braved the 4-hour drive (to and from) Berkshires to Waltham, MA to meet with the Ugandan Boston Community Association’s leadership, to better understand how best, the YAF/CMC; FFC collaboration can better understand and meet the specific needs of the Ugandan and African community in the New England area. The robust discussions really laid the foundation for optimizing the identified needs. We continued to forge a meaningful and impactful approach to meeting the complex needs of the Ugandan community and hopefully the African Diaspora at large. The outcome of the meeting is to register and train 3-4 train identified power players in the Ugandan Diaspora community’s recovery space.

With your generosity, we’re also thinking big about the future. That’s why we are launching for the first time the Season of Giving Campaign for Your Ally Foundation, Inc- the only comprehensive fundraising effort since the foundation’s inception. This critical undertaking is advancing four ambitious goals, each grounded in 4 or the 8 pillars of Your Ally Foundation’s Core Values: Growth, Innovation, Collaboration, and Bi-directional learning.

With your compassionate support and donation, it will allow us to be nimble and respond quickly to the identified needs, no matter the challenges the commu-

nities we serve face. Your financial support: donations are vital to maintaining the core of our mission: Help us to raise awareness. Working directly with families and professionals by empowering the families affected by substance use to help one another.

For instance, we are working to fully open offices in Kampala and in Lusaka. This will provide physical space for the level 1 certified providers to run groups directly on behalf of Your Ally Foundation, Inc. While the idea of relying on the good will of our collaborators; Focus on Recovery Uganda and Great North Rehabilitation Center in Zambia to share resources including physical space is resourceful, we are learning that it is not a practical approach to improving access to ITC groups in the two countries.

To disseminate the ITC model of training, while concurrently running groups, it is vital that we have our own offices. With establishment of physical locations in Kampala and Lusaka, we will be able to employee some of our providers to take on administrative roles. This will help in our push to eliminate barriers that complicate the full optimization of the much-needed modality that ITC is.

Developing a system to easily measure impact in the communities we serve, will require resources, financial and technical resources if we are to bring our goals to fruition. Thank you in advance. Your compassion helps make a transformational impact in the lives of folks in the African Diaspora in the New England area, Zambia, and Uganda. That’s why I hope you’ll pledge your support by giving a generous contribution to Your Ally Foundation, Inc now. Please consider donating online at yourallyfoundation.org/donations/donations/ or sending checks to our address in Boston. Your donation is Tax deductible- EIN: 84-3734678.

Best,

Susan Sserunkuma Wilkinson President/Founder

Your Ally Foundation, Inc

305 Newbury Street, #41 Boston, MA 02115.

AWARENESS ACTIVITIES

This year YAF participated in a number of activities to promote substance use disorders Mental Health Awareness and advocated for policy reform in Uganda. Below are activities that YAF actively engaged with our collaborating partners and the community in Uganda.

• Our Country Director- Ms. Juliet Nakityo and the Foundation Secretary Dr. Musonda Simwayi attended and presented at the 3rd Uganda Alcohol Policy Conference in Kampala. The three days event ran from November 23rd to 25th, 2022. Please see attached Report written by Dr. Simwayi.

• November 25th, the final day of the UAPA conference, both Dr. Samwiyi and Ms. Nakityo attended the Uganda Counselors’ Dinner networking dinner at Hotel African in Kampala.

• YAF became a member of APRAU (in October 2022.

Ms. Juliet Nakityo represented Your Ally Foundation at the 16th Annual Recovery Walk, organized by our collaborators Focus on Recovery Uganda. This year’s theme “ Join the Voices for Recovery, Rise above Stigma”. The event was on September 5th, 2022, Ms. Nakityo presented and Introduced the Invitation to Change Model and disseminated information about Your Ally Foundation.

• Your Ally Foundation also participated in the commemoration of Uganda Mental Health Day on October 18th, 2022. The theme was “Making Mental Health and Wellbeing for All a Global Priority”. Ms. Julie Nakityo represented Your Ally Foundation, Inc.

• We continue to work with Boston College - Law School Entrepreneurship Clinic to help with putting systems in place - since April/2022, we have worked with 2 third law students under the guidance of their professors to update our By-laws, file for Trademark and help us define the various relationships we are Strategically cultivating in the community.

• YAF was involved in resource sharing activities with our collaborators. Contributed to funding the Recovery Walk in Uganda, contributed funding to Charity for Love Outreach event in Kafua, Zambia. Contributed to funding a community activity at Great North in December 2022.

EXCHANGE PROGRAM

Lusaka agreed to spearhead the data collection committee. She will be working closely with Dr. Ken Carpentar from CMC; FFC on this effort.

• We continue to work with Boston College - Law School Entrepreneurship Clinic to help with putting systems in place - since April/2022, we have worked with 2 third law students under the guidance of their professors to update our By-laws, file for Trademark and help us define the various relationships we are Strategically cultivating in the community.

At the conclusion of the training, we embarked on a needs assessment of the newly trained groups. A focus group dinner was conducted in Uganda on November 26th, 2022. The goal was to better understand the barriers to rolling out ITC groups.

• The outcomes included feedback regarding implementation, challenges and support needed to fully implement ITC in the community.

• Resoundingly, the participants made it clear that YAF needs physical space in Kampala; for them to work as a group and support each other as they implement ITC. Some participants had already started utilizing ITC and incorporated the modality in their work with individuals. The Foundation Secretary was one of the facilitators for the group in Kampala.

• On December 8th, Ms. Juliet Nakityo travelled to Zambia for 3 days visit to replicate the same exercise in Zambia. The outcomes in Zambia were pretty similar to the expressed items in Kampala.

• Additionally, the need for data collection was emphasized and Dr. Malama who has experience working on data collection projects with the Ministry of Health in

• Given the challenges involved with difference in time Zones (Uganda, Zambia and Boston), robust interest in the “Train a trainer model” was elicited. Additional benefits of this model include training trainers to run ITC groups in a culturally congruent manner. With CMC; FFC’s involvement, working on an appropriate framework for the “Train a trainer model”, and ultimately implementing the model will minimize the risk for burn out and attrition- something we saw happening after the first 16 hours of training.

NEXT STEPS: NEEDS TO GET DONE IN 2023-2025

Succinctly below are the actionable items for 2023:

• Priority #1: Opening physical offices in Kampala and Lusaka. The legwork for identifying office space in Kampala is already ongoing.

• Continue engaging and networking with like organizations in the Recovery Space. 2 Identified effective conferences- 2 Days- Global Alcohol Policy Conference- Johansburg- SouthAfrica. From 24th October 2023 to 26th October 2023.

• 5 Days - Annual Alcohol Epidemiology Symposium Of The Kettil Brunn Society South Africa- Johannesburg-South Africa. From Monday 05th- June 2023 to Friday 09th June 2023.

• Securing Transportation Means for Uganda.

• Outreach/recruit treatment providers, faith-based leaders, parent/family member volunteers in Uganda and Zambia.

• Support data collection.

• Consultation on adapting training content and materials to address the role of race, immigration, marginalization, and trauma in the experience of substance use and the use of the ITC by treatment professionals and community leaders/volunteers.

• Help assess relevance and usefulness of the ITC for nonwhite training participants.

• Provide the infrastructure for group leaders in Ugandan, Zambian and African diaspora in New England.

• Provide on the ground support and supervision to practitioners and volunteers using ITC in their communities

Succinctly below are the actionable items for 2023:

• Train 100 participants in the 16 hour fundamental Invitation to Change Training.

• Train approx 50% of the cohort in advanced Level 1 Certification for use in clinical one on one and group settings.

• Conduct a ‘Train the Trainer’ workshop, in which participants learn to lead their own workshops on the ITC. Includes 20 hours of additional training, plus ongoing supervision.

• Finalize data collection measures, protocol, and software for use by trained community leaders and mental health providers. Consultation on CMC: FFC’s materials, to ensure cultural relevance and sensitivity.

• Provide ongoing support of ITC-trained providers.

• Obtain funding to provide printed materials to group leaders, mental health practitioners, and community members in Uganda, Zambia, and the African Diaspora in New England.

CMC:FFC Tasks:

• Provide the 15-week ITC curriculum, to be used in group or one-on-one settings.

• Collaborate with community leaders to ensure the ITC model being used is consistent with their cultural values and norms.

• Collaborate with community leaders to support their specific implementation needs.

• Train and provide continued support to community ITC facilitators and practitioners.

• Provide data collection measures, analyze the data collected, and train community leaders in using FFC’s data collection measures.

Based on feedback from local practitioners and Your Ally Foundation, adapt the ITC content and materials to increase relevance and usefulness for Ugandan and Zambian communities, specifically attending to trauma related to race, immigration status, and other aspects of identity.

Provide training materials including presentation slides, worksheets, and training recordings.

FOUNDATION SECRETARY’S REPORT:

Report On The Alcohol Policy Conference Held At The Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala, Uganda. November 2022.

1.0 : INTRODUCTION

The Board member and Secretary of YAF from Zambia Dr. Musonda Simwayi traveled to Uganda from Monday 21st November 2022 to Sunday 27th November 2022 to familiarize himself with YAF activities in Uganda and attend the third Uganda Alcohol Policy Conference (UAPC22). The Conference was held at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, Uganda from 23rd to 25th November 2022 under the theme ‘Building momentum for Alcohol-Related Harm in Uganda: Walking the Talk”. It was organized by the Uganda Alcohol Policy Alliance (UAPA).

2.0 : FIRST DAY MONDAY 21ST NOVEMBER 2022

Dr. Simwayi was picked from Entebbe International Airport at 10:40 hours by Ms. Juliet Natityo and Mr. Paul Twesiime. He was taken to Entebbe Zoo to view animals and to see Lake Victoria. He was dropped at Serena Hotel in Kampala at 15:00 hours.

3.0 : SECOND DAY TUESDAY 22ND NOVEMBER 2022

The trio, Dr. Simwayi, Ms. Nakityo and Mr. Twesiime (hereafter refered to as the team) met Mr. Albert Louis Elwa at Serena Hotel at 12:18 hours and set off to visit Break Free Mental Health Care and Treatment Centre and Fore Tranquil Homes. The two facilities are under the company Focus on Recovery Uganda Limited which was founded by Mr. Elwa in 2015 after he won the battle with alcohol. At that time there was only one Rehabilitation Centre in Uganda called Serenity Medical Centre. At first the company started offering pro bono services to clients and producing a magazine on different aspects of mental health. Eventually, the company managed to get funding from different sponsors. Break Free Mental Health Care and Treatment Centre has capacity to

accommodate 35 in-patients and Fore Tranquil Homes has capacity for 30 in-patients. The two facilities conduct family sessions once per month. It is through these sessions that the Invitation To Change (ITC) model is being implemented.

At 17:35 hours, the team visited Brother Clesistom Ahimbisibwe, a lecturer at Kisubi University, who was one of the trainees in ITC. Unfortunately, on 16th October 2022, he was involved in the road traffic accident and could not continue with training. He was hospitalized for 21 days.

4.0 : THIRD DAY WEDNESDAY 23RD NOVEMBER 2022

The conference on alcohol policy was opened by the Minister of State for Primary Care, Honorable Margaret

Muhanga. She stressed the importance of working together and that the problem of alcohol and drug abuse has affected all communities especially school. The problem is not only affecting Uganda but its global. The chairperson of UAPC22 explained that the conference has attracted more State and Non-State actors which demonstrated increasing confidence in the conference. Instead of the usual 2 days, the conference would be held in 3 days with 54 presentations. The theme for the first day was: Understanding the full extent of alcohol harm in Uganda. The following presentations were made.

Over lunch, an informal side meeting was held with Dr. Juliet Namukasa, the Chairperson of the Uganda Alcohol Policy Alliance, and Prof. Nazarius Tumwesige of Makerere University. During the meeting, the two experts were engaged on possible areas of engagement regarding YAF as well as replicating the work of the Alliance in Zambia. The experts were very open and remained optimistic that the collaboration can work and Zambia would benefit a lot. They indicated their willingness to help Zambia organize a similar conference in Lusaka.

No. Title of the Presentation Presenter

1 The Global Alcohol Action Plan and Need for Action.

2 An Overview of Alcohol Use and Abuse in the African Region.

3 Economic and Social Costs of Alcohol in East Africa

4 Genetics of Alcohol Metabolism in Uganda: Distribution of Polymorphism in ADH1B, ADH1C and ALDH2 in the Ugandan Population

5 The Burden of management of Co-Ocurring Alcohol Use Disorders among young people in low and middle income countries.

Ms. Kristina Sperkova, Movendi International, Sweden.

Dr. Florence Baingana, World Health Organization.

Mr. Didas Balimanya, IOGT,NTO Movement, Tanzania.

Mr. Rodney Okwasiimire, Department of Biochemistry and Sports Science, Makerere University.

Prof. Catherine Abbo (National Referral Hospital)

No. Title of the Presentation Presenter

7 Alcohol in Adolescents: Extent of Use and Harm in Secondary Schools.

8 Substance Abuse and Criminal Activities Among Adolescents in Uganda: A Case study of Adolescents Greater Metropolitan Kampala Area.

9 A Correlation Between Substance Abuse, Unemployment and Homelessness in Botswana

10 Building Networks, Coalitions and Community, Subnational and National Action for Control of Alcohol and other NCDs Risk Factors: A Case of the NCD Alliance in Uganda.

11 Web-Based Intervention for Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Mr. George Muteekanga (Ministry of Education)

Dr. Frank Pio Kiyingi

6 Preventing Alcohol Harm in Children and Youth Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development.

Mr. Zibiso Malejane

Mr. Chris Kwizera

Prof. Nazarius M. Tumwesige (Makerere University)

5.0 : FOURTH DAY THURSDAY 24TH NOVEMBER 2022

This was the second day of the Conference and the theme of the day was: Implementing Effective Alcohol Policies: Barriers and Opportunities. The following were the presentations.

No. Title of the Presentation Presenter

1 The Safer Technical Package, Implementation Framework, Partnerships and Infrastructure

2 Availability of Alcohol Regulation in the 137 Districts of Uganda.

3 Preventing Alcohol Related Harm in East Africa: Stakeholder Perceptions of Readiness Across 5 Countries.

4 Safeguarding Alcohol Policies from Undue Interference: Lessons from Sri Lanka.

Dr. Dag Rekve, Word Health Organization.

R. Ruth Kikome

Prof. Monica Swahn, Dean, Wellstar College of Health and Human Services.

Sampath De Seram, Alcohol and Drug Information Centre, Sri Lanka

No. Title of the Presentation Presenter

5 Safer Monitoring System: Development, Draft Indicators and Next Steps.

6 Assessing the Impact of Alcohol Treatment in the Rehabilitation of Convicts.

7 Alcohol and Drug Abuse Client Characteristcs from a recently set up Surveillance System in Rehabilitation Centres in Kampala Metropolitan

8 Towards Hope and Beyond Addiction Center of Excellence: A Integrated Approach for the Promotion of Mental Health, Development and General Well Being in Uganda.

9 Effects of a Communication Intervention on Alcohol use during Pregnancy in Post-Conflict Northern Uganda: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Prof. Charles Parry, Director, Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Research Unit, South Africa Medical Research Council.

Ms. Nabukenya M. Assumpta.

Ms. Cissie Namanda

No. Title of the Presentation Presenter

3 The Draft National Alcohol Control Bill. Hon. Sarah Opendi

4 Faith-based Institutions and the Prevention of Harmful use of Alcohol

5 Building momentum for a united approach to end Alcohol Harm in Africa.

Uganda Catholic Secretariat

Mr. Aadielah Maker-Diedericks, South African Alcohol Policy Alliance.

The Conference ended with dinner at Hotel Africana hosted by the Uganda Counselling Association which celebrated 20 years of existence i.e. from 2002 to 2022.

Dr. David Katema

Ms. Apophia Agiresaasi

During tea break, an informal side meeting was held with Ms. Kristina Sperkova, the Head of Movendi International. The purpose of the meeting was to explore the possibility of formal engagements with Movendi especially with respect to funding some of our activities. She agreed to have a virtual meeting after the conference.

6.0 : FIFTH DAY FRIDAY 25TH NOVEMBER 2022

This was the third day of the Conference and the theme of the day was: Solutions to Alcohol Harm. The following were the presentations.

No. Title of the Presentation Presenter

1 Roles of a National Regulatory Body to Prevent and Reduce Alcohol Harm.

2 Challenges and Opportunities facing the Regulation of Alcohol at Local Levels.

Ms. Nyamburah Kigerah, National Authority for Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Mr. Chris Wagoleire

7.0 : SIXTH DAY SATURDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2022

7.1 Visit to Serenity Rehabilitation Centre

This was the last day of the visit to Uganda. In the morning, a visit was undertaken to Serenity Rehabilitation Centre which has existed for 21 years. We were met by Mr. Otim Emiliano Amlyn, a Clinical Psychologist. The Centre is expanding its facilities and is currently enjoying a wide array of experts including psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, teachers and general counsellors to offer services to clients.

7.2 Visit to Makerere University

In the afternoon, a visit was undertaken to Makerere University to pay a courtesy call on Dr. Engineer Bainomugisha, a Board member of Your Ally Foundation. A number of things were discussed included enhancing collaboration between the Foundation in Zambia and Uganda.

7.3 Meeting with ITC Trainees

In the evening, dinners was organized for different experts who were trained in the Invitation to Change (ITC) tool. The main purpose of having dinner was to get feedback on the training and chat the way forward regarding rolling out ITC. A total of eleven (11) eleven trainees attended.

The major takeaways from the meeting were as follows:

• Trainees from Kyambogo University indicated that the university could make available a room to be used for ITC group sessions. The trainees were few but ready to work.

• One participant who was not affiliated to any institution indicated that he had already started implementing ITC principles. He had started with few families and what he need was assistance to formalize the groups.

• At Serenity, the tool was being implemented through with family sessions. However, monthly sessions were not enough.

• At Break Free Mental Health Care and Treatment Centre and Fore Tranquil Homes, participants explained that ITC was being used in family sessions. However, they needed support so that sessions could be increased.

• Overall, all participants required assistance in terms of materials, financial and further training.

8.0 : CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

8.1 Conclusion

The trip to Uganda, being the first of its kind was very successful and memorable. Ain terms of strategies and measures to address alcohol and drug disorders, Uganda is more advanced than Zambia. There are more established specialized private and public facilities to treat patients and offer support services. These include hospitals, clinics, universities and rehabilitation centres. The response and support from government and international organisations, particularly the World Health Organization, is very impressive. All scheduled meetings with YAF officials and other stakeholders were successful. Unfortunately, the meeting with Dr. Nandawula Mutema could not take place due to her family commitments.

Special thanks and recognition goes to the President and Founder of YAF, Mrs Susan S. Wilkinson for the initiative and sponsorship of the trip to Uganda. Further, much appreciations go to Ms. Julie Nakityo, Mr. Albert Louis Elwa and Mr. Paul Twesiime for the great work and making the trip a success.

8.2 Recommendations

In view of all lessons picked during the trip to Uganda, it is hereby recommended that:

I.YAF should source for funding to facilitate for its own offices, support staff and enhancing its local and international presence.

II.YAF should explore the engagement with potential funders and sponsors such as the World Health Organization and Movendi International

III.YAF should keep the enthusiasm of recently trained experts in ITC.

PUBLICATIONS

CMC : FFC

Your Ally Foundation and CMC:FFC are partnering to increase availability of evidence-based approaches for treating addiction in Uganda, Zambia, and the African Diaspora of New England.

https://cmcffc.org/article/special-project-your-ally-foundation.

Susan Wilkinson / YAF Publications:

• Psychiatric Times Print Article.