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commit and act in Sierra Leone

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The Palgrave Handbook of Sociocultural Perspectives on Global Mental Health

Abstract

This chapter outlines the work of an international non-governmental organization (NGO) called commit and act and its efforts to alleviate suffering and to promote mental health, valued living and empowerment of local people in Sierra Leone. The chapter begins with a summary of Sierra Leone and some of the main issues facing the country. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. New York: Guilford Press; ACT) is presented as a psychotherapy rooted in a philosophical framework called ‘functional contextualism’, which offers broadly applicable behavioral principles and therapeutic techniques that may be applied to a variety of issues across diverse cultural settings. The development of commit and act and examples of how ACT has been applied by local therapists in Sierra Leone are presented. Finally, the impact of commit and act in Sierra Leone and the advantages of adopting a functional contextual approach when conducting cross-cultural work in psychosocial settings are discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Corinna Stewart

  2. Aschaffenburg, Germany

    Beate Ebert

  3. Sierra Leone, South Africa

    Hannah Bockarie

Authors
  1. Corinna Stewart
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  2. Beate Ebert
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  3. Hannah Bockarie
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Health and Society University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Ross G. White

  2. School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Sumeet Jain

  3. Department of Social Work and Social Care, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

    David M.R. Orr

  4. CERMES3, Paris, France

    Ursula M. Read

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Stewart, C., Ebert, B., Bockarie, H. (2017). commit and act in Sierra Leone. In: White, R., Jain, S., Orr, D., Read, U. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sociocultural Perspectives on Global Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39510-8_31

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