Grandmothers united

Here's one of the best ideas I've read about in a long time (in The Boston Globe, my hometown newspaper). In Zimbabwe, Dr. Dixon Chibanda was one of only 15 psychiatrists in the entire country, and the mental health needs of most of the population were going unmet. Dr. Chibanda had a simple idea: to harness the wisdom and listening power of grandmothers, who would be trained to provide supportive counseling and practical assistance to people without access to health care, in the nonclinical setting of park benches. The Friendship Bench program offers an inexpensive and elegant solution to a frontline mental health need -- and, research shows, provides benefits to the grandmothers as well. A couple of cities in the US are trying this. Could we replicate this idea in more communities?