GRACE GATERA

Perspective Leader Award

Grace Gatera, from Rwanda, will be sharing her insights around mental health, sexual health and financial health as a DIMH2019 Spotlight Speaker.

Talk Title: The Journey of Self

Summary: Mental health is an integral part of everyone’s living. When you have mental wellbeing, chances are, even your physical and physiological health are well too. What happens when one day, your mental health receives a death blow and you are left in tatters? How do you deal with picking up the pieces of yourself that have been shattered by traumatic events, and keep on living? In my talk, I will be speaking on how as a young woman already living with PTSD from the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, I was the victim of sexual abuse, thus causing me further mental health issues and how I dealt with it. In particular, I will be describing the interlinks between mental and sexual health after abuse as well as finding myself beyond the trauma.

I will also touch on how financial stability can lead to improved mental health especially for people who live in low income countries.