Brazzaville—Julien, 39, still remembers the cold touch of metal against his skin. His ankles had borne rusty chains for months. Overwhelmed by his mental health condition, his family had shut him away, convinced that he was possessed. Days passed in silence, punctuated by hunger and thirst. He lost all sense of time.
“Exhausted and shut away for days, I had eventually locked the door from the inside, determined not to see anyone again,” he says.
Three days later, he heard a voice outside: “My brother, open the door.” It was Grégoire Ahongbonon, founder of the Saint Camille Association.
“I was later told that he had persuaded my family to agree that I could receive treatment, and had taken me to a Saint Camille centre. That is where I began to regain my senses and receive dignified care,” says Julien.
Saint Camille Centre in Djougou, Benin, is a community-based facility dedicated to the reception, care and social reintegration of people living with mental health conditions.
For many people living with mental health conditions, human rights violations remain a reality, particularly through chaining, forced isolation and social exclusion.
At Saint Camille centres, patient support is guided by a human rights-based approach to mental health, recognizing that illness does not erase a person’s worth or rights. For Ahongbonon, everything begins with a change in perspective.
“A person living with a mental health condition remains fully human. Illness does not take away their dignity, their rights or their place within the family and society,” he says.
In World Health Organization’s African Region, nearly 150 million people live with mental, neurological or substance use disorders. Yet access to mental health services remains limited for most of them. Only seven countries in the region have fully integrated mental health into primary health care.
Stigma deprives people of their place in society, while abusive practices deepen their suffering. However, local initiatives supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) demonstrate that another path is possible.
“Mental health care must protect people’s dignity, autonomy and equality. It must support the decision-making power of people living with mental health conditions, ensure their inclusion within the community and protect them from discrimination and coercive practices,” explains Dr Chido Rwafa Madzvamutse, Mental Health Adviser at the WHO Regional Office for Africa.
These principles challenge discriminatory practices and promote community-based, inclusive and respectful care. When people are given back their confidence, listened to and involved in their care journey, their lives are transformed.
Kofi, 33, was raised in a family affected by mental illness and exclusion and experienced a period of suffering and despair. After receiving care at the Saint Camille Centre in Tokpli, Togo, he later trained as a nurse.
Today, he supports his mother and sister on their path to recovery while working with other patients.
“The rights to dignity and freedom of people with mental health problems are the most threatened,” he says. “Many arrive after having been chained or rejected.”
Saint Camille centres have supported more than 200 000 people living with mental health conditions in five African countries since 1983. Many go on to become peer supporters, nurses or centre managers, demonstrating that illness does not erase either abilities or aspirations.
Treatment is not limited to medication. It encompasses reception, listening, rehabilitation and social reintegration. It is built on trust in people and on the conviction that everyone can regain a meaningful place in society. Former patients who become peer supporters play an essential role: their lived experience is a powerful re
In many countries, mental health laws remain outdated and are not harmonized with international human rights standards.
In this context, WHO recommends updating legislation in line with international standards, developing community-based care, reducing abusive practices and listening to people with lived experience.
Human rights-based approaches to mental health are therefore not only a moral or legal imperative. They are an essential condition for transforming suffering into recovery, exclusion into inclusion, and for building societies where every person, regardless of their vulnerabilities, can regain their dignity and contribute to community life.
Years later, Julien, who was once chained, has become a caregiver himself. He now welcomes and supports other patients, serving as living proof that recovery is possible.
“Every time I welcome a patient, I remember my own suffering. It gives me great joy to contribute to their recovery because I know that it is possible to move from chains to freedom,” he says.
