Members are recruited from local health care facilities and communities through a process of publicity and promotion, and members will be invited to make a voluntary donation to the organisation to support the work of specific projects, but they will not be asked for a membership fee.
Members will be invited to attend the annual (online) general meeting and contribute to work programmes of the organisation.
Types of members
The organisation has three types of members namely founder, ordinary and honorary members.
a. Founder members are those members who initiated the establishment and registration of IMHSUS.
b. Ordinary members are members who shall join IMHSUS after its establishment
c. Honorary members are members who are appointed by IMHSUS members in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the work of IMHSUS. Honorary members shall not have voting rights.
Become a member here
Milou Buijk
Milou Buijk is a psychiatry registrar and PhD candidate with a strong passion for global mental health, particularly in East Africa.
She has lived and worked in Arusha, Tanzania, where she provided medical care in an inpatient hospital setting and now leads mental health workshops for local youth. Her work focuses on enhancing mental health literacy among adolescents in Arusha, aiming to reduce stigma and improve access to care.
Milou combines her clinical experience with a dedication to community-based education and research, contributing to a more inclusive and culturally sensitive approach to psychiatry.
Paulina Diaz-Barriga Yanez
Advisor
Paulina is a Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist and Sensory Integration practitioner. She is currently working for Central and North West London (CNWL) NHS Foundation Trust within the ADHD community team. She has extensive experience in crisis mental health and substance misuse and has been part of the International Healthcare Partnerships Programme (CIHP) since 2022.
Before relocating to England, Paulina led multiple public health initiatives in Mexico, including programmes focused on preventing violence against older adults and delivering training for carers. She also provided specialist support for individuals with dementia across inpatient and day care settings.
Paulina also contributed to the Community Based Rehabilitation and Community Based Inclusion program with an NGO to support people with disabilities in rural and indigenous communities.
She is committed to helping people build independence, improve quality of life, and fully participate in society while challenging stigma and discrimination.
Jennifer Mashaka
General board member
Resident Clinical Psychologist at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), also providing gender-affirming counseling and therapy.
With a passion for psychology ignited in 2014, she has actively contributed to various community-based initiatives with NGOs in Tanzania, including Mental Health Tanzania (MHT), Akili Platform, Eagle Wings, and Alliance for Women Children and Youth Survivors (AWCYS) in mental health awareness, outreach, and health education workshops.
Jennifer’s academic background includes a research fellowship at MUHAS and tutorial positions at Hubert Kairuki Memorial University (HKMU) and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). She holds a degree in Psychology and Communication Science, with an Honours in Psychology from Wits.
She is dedicated to building her expertise and making meaningful contributions to the field.
Dorothy Mushi
General board member
Psychiatrist and a lecturer at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, since 2012. She is about to graduate with a Ph.D. in mental health Epidemiology from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
She teaches and mentors undergraduate and Post-graduate medical students, doing research and clinical work. She has been engaging and collaborating with local and International partners in research and projects on integrating mental health into existing general health services and community-based programs.
She is particularly interested in research and programs on mental health with HIV, gender-based violence (GBV), violence against children (VAC), and other non-communicable diseases. Over the years, she has been actively involved in developing various national management and training guidelines for substance use disorders and the Health sector response and prevention of GBV and VAC.
Afra van der Markt
Advisor
Psychiatrist since 2019 with a PhD on staging models for bipolar disorder. After a residency in Tanzania in 2016/2017, she continued working on projects related to global mental health. For example, she is one of the organizers of the annual Focus on Mental Health Conference in Tanzania. She is an active member of the Global Mental Health task force of the Dutch Psychiatric Association.
In 2023, she lived in Kenya and worked for the Shamiri Institute, a non-profit that focuses on preventative mental health interventions in schools. After this, she returned to the Netherlands and is currently working as a psychiatrist and postdoc.
IMHSUS 