Dr Fadia Gamieldien
Qualifications
- PhD Psychiatry (UCT)
- BSc Occupational Therapy UCT
- MSc Occupational Therapy UCT
Introduction
My research interests lie predominantly in Mental Health (MH) and include Community Mental Health, Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Personal Recovery, Disaster Management, Supported Education, Spirituality and Recovery. I favour a population-based understanding of mental health and wellness. Given our history of Apartheid, I think there is intergenerational trauma that can and should be addressed at a community level. Community based recovery focused mental health services are not yet developed in communities and in-patient services focus on clinical recovery (medication adherence and symptom reduction) and not on personal recovery (what has meaning and purpose to mental health service users). I also work with service users as experts by experience and believe in co-creating knowledge to inform services.
My Master’s research investigated the perspectives of male mental health service users on their community integration following participation in a residential-based rehabilitation programme. A key finding was that although hospitals offer mental health service-users’ respite, this does not facilitate community integration. Rehabilitation services are limited in hospitals and community based mental health services are non-existent in the public health sector. I am currently a PhD candidate; my study is an exploration of recovery among people with severe mental health conditions in South Africa. I have supervised postgraduate students in MMed, Psychiatry and Mental Health and Occupational Therapy. I try to align my social activism to the work that I do as a health professional. Having grown up in Apartheid South Africa, the current genocide in Palestine is a human rights issue that is close to my heart, and one that I cannot always fathom is happening in my lifetime. My focus and energy are aligned to human rights issues, and this is one that is dominating my thinking and feeling at the moment.
I recently completed my PhD in Psychiatry, and the title of my research was: An exploration of recovery among people with severe mental health conditions in South Africa.
Publications