I am Sandrine Magwa, Founder and Chairperson of Hand On Heart Cameroon, a community-based mental health organisation founded in 2009 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. My commitment to mental health is deeply rooted in lived experience. As a family caregiver from a young age, I have experienced firsthand the challenges faced by families supporting relatives living with mental health conditions, including stigma, limited access to care, social isolation and the lack of support for caregivers.

For more than 17 years, I have transformed this lived experience into community action. Through Hand On Heart, we work to improve access to mental health and psychosocial support, particularly in underserved rural communities. Our work includes community awareness and prevention, psychosocial support, family support and peer approaches, youth mental health activities, stigma reduction, social inclusion and support for the recovery and participation of people with lived experience.

We also work to strengthen the integration of mental health into primary healthcare by building the capacity of nurses and community health workers to better identify, support and refer people experiencing mental health difficulties. Our current work in rural Cameroon brings together health professionals, community workers, people with lived experience, families and local stakeholders to develop more accessible and community-based responses.

As a lived-experience-informed leader, I am passionate about placing the voices and knowledge of people and families directly affected by mental health challenges at the centre of mental health systems and community solutions. I am particularly interested in community leadership, mental health and wellbeing, social inclusion, health systems strengthening, advocacy, peer learning and collaboration across Africa.