“I am leaving, but the institution and its principles must remain and take precedence”

Former journalist Marylène François is the founder, director and even the soul of OpenMind, a non-governmental organization (NGO) for children and adolescents with mental disorders. In this interview, she recalls its founding principles, including the right of the most vulnerable in our country to the best possible care, and emphasizes the value of continuity.

14 years ago, you founded OpenMind to fill a gap in Mauritius in providing access to medical services and holistic care for children and adolescents with mental health issues. Remind us how it all began.

Many NGOs that provide medical or paramedical services were started by mothers or parents of children with specific health problems. OpenMind is no exception. I founded it with a small team around me when my son fell ill.

Were there no warning signs?

It happened so suddenly and it was so frustrating that I had to take unpaid leave from the newspaper. weekend to my son. Then I went back to work. One evening, while covering a conference in Goodlands, an emergency occurred. I don’t know how I drove from Goodlands to my house! That’s when I realized I couldn’t work and take care of a sick child. So I explained the situation to my team leader. Mauritian, The late Jacques Rivet. He offered to extend my leave, but I resigned because I had to focus on my son’s health. I then ended my 26 years of journalism and became a “caregiver”.

What was the state of mental health in Mauritius at that time?

There is a gap in the care of children and adolescents with mental disorders. There is the Friends of Hope, an NGO that also brings hope and respite, providing support to adults. Then there is the Brown-Séquard hospital and private clinics. Between these two poles, most people are inaccessible. When I wanted to study nursing methods at an institution in Paris, the doctor in charge advised me not to do it: “You are a mother and cannot be her caregiver. At the end of the day, we will have not one but two patients.” Following his advice, I formed a small family “village” around my child, mobilizing my closest family members to love him while supporting his stability.

After this wandering, my idea is that other parents can seek help, there must be a way out. Hence the motto of OpenMind: “Ena Sim Solti”. In 2010, I gathered my friends there and we founded OpenMind. We built a public health organization based on close personal experience. We founded OpenMind in June 2010 and the center opened in Rose Hill in September of the same year.

Who is OpenMind for?

Initially, we were open to all children and adults suffering from psychological distress and mental illness. Then, we specialized in children’s services. We had a list of 26 conditions that required multidisciplinary care. We knew when treatment started, but we didn’t know when it ended. Our principle was that every child had the right to the best free service and OpenMind would not offer discounted services. In December 2010, we were already overwhelmed with 120 requests. So we filled this gap and created the first specialized facility for children with mental illness in Mauritius.

Why talk about it in past tense?

We have since reduced our workforce while maintaining the principles of quality care. Today, the need for mental health is recognised, but in 2010 the topic was still taboo and stigmatised. It was necessary to explain that mental health is part of health. It is a human right. But this type of global support is expensive. The National Social Inclusion Fund (NSIF) provided us with 30% of the funding, and we had to find the rest. So we reduced services and staff to focus on what was most important – care.

How do you measure the success of this support?

We evaluate each child once a quarter and make adjustments when necessary. When we see a child return to childhood, I tell myself that I am useful, we are useful. Because OpenMind operates like a “therapeutic village” around the child: a heartfelt thank you to everyone who works at OpenMind.

Who were the first donors who trusted you?

I would like to thank Alberto Mariette of the Jumbo brand SOMAGS, who was our first financier. At every stage of our program, we have a donor/funder based on a strictly structured project and system. monitor Harsh. Like the expertise of Pamela Bapoo-Dundoo of the UN Development Programme GEF-SGP, who understands how organic farming and the environment can be key factors in mental health. Healing Green… This is how our horticultural therapy / ecotherapy program was implemented from 2012 to 2014. But the location was missing: Hector Espitalier-Noël, then Director of the ENL, granted our center land in Verdun. Then, the European Union called for projects in order to build safe, well-lit spaces for our beneficiaries. There, Mr. Naidu, the Education Coordinator, showed me how projects are managed following a detailed process of selecting them. We started by building drainage ditches and clearing the ground where the sugar cane was planted. We started from a container The arrangement was quick and we were cramped. Once again at the MCB Forward Foundation (MCBFF), the courageous Juliette François-Assonne, a psychologist by training, immediately understood our mission and what it meant to have an invisible impact. Because if we treat this invisible disease with excellence, the results are also invisible and cannot be disclosed, as medical confidentiality requires.

In 2017, when I realized that there were still some children who were in trouble, I realized that despite all our efforts we could not get there. I went to France at my own expense, met with experts, and there I learned that we needed a child psychiatrist. There was none in Mauritius. I proposed to the MCBFF the project to create the first child psychiatry service in Mauritius, and it was launched in March 2018 after it was established by psychologist Aarti Banymandhub… President of the French Association of Child Psychiatrists m He suggested contacting Dr. Christian Simon in Reunion, who for four years came to OpenMind every month as a consultant expert in child psychiatry, and OpenMind subsequently opened its doors to children in need in Mauritius and Rodrigues. We still lacked a dedicated room and psychological tests: we had to redo a project, and it was the Phoenix Rotary Club that funded it. There were loyal donors who not only gave money, but also time. These people helped to build OpenMind. 14 years, imagine the progress made and the intense work behind it.

With the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, our therapists filmed the workshops on their phones and sent the videos to the children. All the brothers and sisters in confinement benefited from this online therapy. It worked so well that right after, fearing that new restrictions would further enforce social isolation and cut off care, I proposed a project to NSIF in 2021 to be produced professionally, not over the phone! – 25 short videos of therapeutic workshops, including horticultural therapy, and materials and seed packets that we sent all over the island and even to Rodrigues during the second confinement. OpenMind never gave up. And, the 25 videos are still there, and there are more! Bag Materials that must be shared…

Despite all this success, why did you decide to pass on the torch?

I worked very hard these years. I excelled in all aspects. Other NGO leaders knew what it was. Project writing, fundraising, management, etc. We counted how much work I did. We realized that a normal business would need to hire four people to do such a large amount of work. But an NGO, even a public-sector one like OpenMind, cannot hire four people! So, in action, with a “no nonsense” management style, I always acted from the practical side. From my career as a journalist, I know the weight of words. We do what we say; we say what we say; we put documents and facts on the table; decisions are collegial and transparent. We have a responsibility to beneficiaries, parents, members, funders. But in 2021, my engine failed. I had health problems…

We thought deeply: for the good and sustainability of OpenMind, we had to give up. I knew and decided that I had to leave. There was also the fact that I could no longer face these institutional failures, which were making the children more broken and unable to keep them safe. The situation was too much, and I could no longer restart a war that had already been won and restart it again and again with each change of open interlocutors. Working in the field of mental illness means facing suffering, facing double penalties such as instability, poverty, drugs that have terrible neuropsychological effects on the youngest children. So, my decision was made in a fully informed, serious, calm state. I was leaving, but the institution had to stay and face these new challenges. I discussed this at the center, where Valérie Lagane, our psychomotor therapist of seven years, said she was willing to accept this challenge.

How long have you been away from OpenMind?

After months of preparation, Valérie was appointed Director in July 2023, from which I ceased to be Director and moved into transfer work mode until my retirement in March 2024. So, the handover was recorded in July 2023 and all the working documents, accounts, etc. are at the OpenMind headquarters, under the responsibility of the new Director. This empowerment exercise was endorsed by Valérie Lagane, who quickly demonstrated her organizational skills by preparing the General Assembly herself and electing a new Management Board. I remain a member of OpenMind, but I no longer have anything to do with operations, financing or anything else. Of course, if anyone asks me for advice: the last advice I gave Valérie, at her request, was to relaunch our Child Psychiatry Service. She had already started it with great enthusiasm. I am leaving, but the institution and its principles must remain and take precedence.

Will you return to the media?

I’ll go have some fun first. At 63, I’m going back to school. In September, I’ll fulfill a dream: studying art history. Then I’ll see. We are and still are journalists, right? Journalistic practice leaves its mark on OpenMind’s values: transparency, responsible perseverance, respect, rigor, clear reflection. Humility too. Stay humble in the service of others. Back to the press or social media? “We can’t, and we used to be” : I want to verify this statement!