BasicNeeds was founded in 1999 by Chris Underhill with the key objective of transforming the lives of people living with mental illness and epilepsy in the world’s poorest communities. BasicNeeds Vietnam received the permission of the Government of Vietnam to work in Vietnam in early 2011 as an international NGO.
For millions of people who are living in poverty, mental illness is a world of isolation, fear, abuse and neglect. We aim to tackle mentally ill people’s poverty as well as their illness by creating integrated community-based mental health services, facilitating access to livelihoods opportunities, supporting the development of user movements and working to overcome mental health-related stigma.
We work with individuals, families, communities, civil society organisations and government partners to expand our reach, generate a strong evidence base for our work, and influence public opinion and government policy and practice.
With the aim to facilitate the release of stress, fatigue, and emotional pain as well as the adding of joy and positive energy to the mental health of Vietnamese people, BasicNeeds Viet Nam was founded in 2010 to establish a system that support community development and nurturing the Vietnamese people’s mental health.
BN has developed a Model for Mental Health and Development which employs a developmental approach to community-based mental health intervention with an emphasis on sustainability. BN recognizes that the only way to bring about and sustain positive change for poor people is to concurrently address related health, social, and economic concerns.