Working Together for Mental Health

Glasswing recently held a regional summit, “Working Together for Mental Health,” to discuss progress and plans for Glasswing’s flagship mental health program, SanaMente. The program is now in its third year of implementation, with support from The Audacious Project.

Through SanaMente, Glasswing trains frontline workers in Latin America—including teachers and school staff, healthcare personnel, and law enforcement officers—to understand the impact of stress and trauma on themselves and others, and to acquire the skills to manage and heal. Glasswing partners with institutions that frequently interact with people exposed to potentially traumatic situations, including schools, hospitals, clinics, and police stations. 

The regional summit, held in Antigua, Guatemala, brought together Glasswing health managers, coordinators, and regional team members from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Panama, and Mexico. Discussions celebrated the achievements made and lessons learned during the SanaMente program to date, highlighting the impact on thousands of lives, evolving positioning of mental health in Latin America, and developing commitment by governments to support mental health initiatives.

Those achievements included: 

• Glasswing signed agreements with the security sector in El Salvador. SanaMente reached 90% coverage in national hospitals in the country at the end of 2023.
• Honduras secured agreements with the Ministries of Education and Health and the police, institutionalizing the SanaMente approach across sectors and system actors.
• Guatemala formed strategic alliances with, among others, the Ministries of Health and Education and the School of Psychological Sciences at San Carlos University. 
• Colombia shared progress from the Avanzando el Futuro project with Mercy Corps and a consortium of organizations. 
• Panama shared plans for launching SanaMente, including initial staff training sessions and teacher workshops in the upcoming months. 
• The Mexico team discussed SanaMente training among teachers, police officers, and government officials supporting victims of gender-based violence. Additionally, at the Mexico-US and Mexico-Guatemala borders, Glasswing is training staff from five shelters—three in Tijuana and two in Tapachula—in the SanaMente approach.

Each country shared its objectives for the year ahead. Our goal is for institutions to integrate the SanaMente Model into their organization’s culture and daily language, becoming spaces of trauma-conscious care where staff do everything possible to reduce the impact of adverse situations. We plan to ultimately bring trauma-informed care to over nine million people in Central America. 

Summit attendees also shared practical tools for the programmatic and financial management of projects, with the purpose of providing timely follow-ups to work plans and budget executions in each country, for analysis and decision-making. To close the meeting, Florencia Garcia, Glasswing’s Regional Director of Programs, facilitated a space for individual and group reflection on efficient management.

The meeting showcased the team’s passion and dedication, reflecting a collective commitment to the embodiment of SanaMente’s principles both professionally and personally. As Regional Health Associate Susy Verónica Araujo Andrade said, “Each and every one of us has the power to create spaces of care where people find support and relief.”