Janet* is a woman who previously faced family rejection. She was the first-born and lived with relatives after being orphaned at a young age. For many years, she has lived with bipolar disorder and alcohol use disorder with on-and-off treatment requiring frequent admissions to hospital mental health units. The family experienced challenges with each hospital admission, including addressing behavior before the admission, paying for the admission, and needing to bring Janet to the hospital at unscheduled times. The family delayed taking her home following some discharges with concerns about how to support her, which sometimes led to long hospital stays.

People living with severe mental illness in Kenya often depend on their families for social, economic, and emotional support. Relatives often accompany patients to clinic appointments, assist them in taking their medications, and support basic daily needs. In cases when family members are unable or unwilling to care for a relative with mental illness, the AMPATH team works with the individual to develop an independent path to develop family and community support systems.

Janet was eventually admitted to the MTRH Nawiri Recovery & Skills Centre, the first recovery home and skills center in Kenya for adults with severe mental illness, where she worked to understand her illness and manage her symptoms, learn how to reduce relapses, and gain skills that would empower her to live independently. She also learned beadmaking as part of the vocational training program.

Six months after her discharge, Janet was living independently in a rental house. She now attends her monthly clinic visits and refills her medication as scheduled. She earns her living making bracelets using her Nawiri Centre training and supplements this work with casual jobs like washing clothes for her neighbors. Although Janet no longer has the support of her family, she can support herself and live independently.