The Belmopan Consumer Association BCA was formed at the Banana Bank Resort on April 5, 2004. The new Board came out of the meeting with a mandate to advance the interests of Consumer Members from the Belmopan Region. However; by the very nature of the pressing mental health issues facing the country, the group feels that it needs to work on many fronts at the same time.

By Consumer we mean any person who is a recipient of mental health services or is a psychiatric survivor. A consumer is one who has experienced the effects or trauma of mental illness and who would like to effect positive change. Traditionally, Consumers were viewed as another burden for society to shoulder and were seen as hobbling through a maze of mental struggles with no end. Modern medications have changed all that. Today Consumers in Belize like their counterparts in Brazil have a tremendous potential to be involved in self help cooperative economic programs. As Brazil has proven, Consumers can be successfully integrated into Society, to become productive and shimmering economic engines. Those who have suffered some form of mental illness can give back to society after their recovery.

 

Belizean Community Activist, Adrian Yam, on far right, recently hosted a fund raising drive for the

BMHCA in Houston, U.S.A