By Aisha Sambo
May Day May Day! The Month of Labour and Mental Health Awareness is upon us. May Day May Day!! It never gets old, me saying these words “May Day”.
It’s been a great year so far writing for the Valuechain Magazine, it’s given me a sense of discipline for consistency and so allow me this opportunity dear reader to wish my boss and other colleague at this magazine Happy Workers’ Day which was celebrated on the 1st of May every year since 1877. Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty US states officially celebrated Labor Day. Labour Day is also called Workers’ Day or International Workers’ Day, and it commemorates the historic struggles and gains made by workers and the labour movement.
May is a special month this year for me personally because my youngest sister turned 20 and it’s the Mental Health awareness month. I started activity campaigning about Mental Health in 2019 through a platform we created called Mind Over Matter NG. By we, I mean Neem Foundation and an organisation I co-founded when I was 17 years old, Green Youth For Youth Foundation. I have huge admiration for Neem Foundation and what the organisation does. Neem Foundation is a leading crisis response organisation committed to promoting the protection and wellbeing of populations and communities living in contexts affected by conflict, violence, and fragility. Green Youth For Youth Foundation (popularly known as Youth4Youth), is a social movement group with the objective of bridging the gap between the privileged and less privileged youth in Nigeria.
These two organisations created Mind Over Matter NG, a social media awareness campaign in 2019. Our Abuja community had such tremendous support, we interviewed Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai, Anita Asuoha (Real Warri Pikin), Osasu Igbinedion, and Adama Indimi to name a few. We had no criteria for the people that we interviewed as you know mental illness has no criteria as well. All our participants were above 18 years old and willing to open up about their personal experiences dealing with their mental health and that was the only reason we needed to interview a participant. Over a period of 5 months we interviewed 20 people leading up to an awareness walk on the 10 of October, which is Mental Health Day. We hosted the walk at City Park with the support of other organisations in Abuja that offer psychological and psychosocial support with over 200 people in attendance.
#MindOverMatterNG focuses on desensitising people towards negative perceptions surrounding mental illness. It is a safe space for honest conversations about Mental Health in Nigeria. How to spot signs of someone struggling, where to seek help and how you can help. This initiative has now evolved into a podcast that Khadija Abdullahi and I host. Once every month we release an episode on the podcast, we believe hosting this podcast will bring us all closer to some of our focal points:
Response: Use messaging to create greater capacity amongst Nigeria youths on how to spot signs of mental/psychological illness and appropriate ways to respond to it.
Awareness: We hope to create greater awareness amongst Nigeria’s youth on the need for seeking mental health support.
Innovation: Develop innovative communications and messaging strategies for reaching out to youth both at urban and rural areas.
Legislation and policy: Work with the relevant agencies to begin a National discourse on the need for a strategic framework to guide the provision of mental health care in Nigeria.
I have a theory that Mental illness may be the next pandemic and we don’t even realise it. If we as Africans don’t start tackling polices and stigmas surrounding mental illness and raising more awareness on the issue, we may face grave social issues in the future. We all need to try to play our part to be supportive at home and at work towards each other for the sake of our mental health and it starts with you educating yourself. Share personal experiences with others to help reduce stigma, when appropriate. Be open-minded about the experiences and feelings of colleagues at work. Respond with empathy, offer peer support, and encourage others to seek help. Be kind at work dear reader and adopt behaviours that promote stress management and mental health. My friend, Khadija and I are not the only young people highly concerned about the mental state of our country, here are some other amazing groups and organisations and what they currently do:
Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI)
Launched in June 2016, MANI is Nigeria’s largest youth-run and youth-focused mental health organization. This Lagos-based nonprofit body focuses on creating awareness on mental health and illnesses as well as helping its clients connect to mental health professionals. MANI has a suicide/distress hotline and is planning on launching a mobile app to connect mental health professionals to people in need of help. The organization promotes its advocacy campaigns online using channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and its website to draw attention to different mental health illnesses or other related topics each month. Since 2016, MANI has managed to expand its work to four Nigerian states and provide support to more than 5,000 people.
Neem Foundation
This nonprofit, nongovernmental organisation is doing important work in Borno State to help those who have suffered trauma as a result of attacks by the Boko Haram terrorists. In 2017 alone, the organisation provided psychological services to over 7,000 people in Borno. In order to reach their target of getting to 16,000 more clients by 2019, the foundation began a Counseling on Wheels program which has counsellors use motorcycles or motor tricycles to take counselling services to people’s doorsteps. By doing this, they have managed to raise the number of their clients to reach 12,000 people so far. Besides providing mental health support to individuals, the Neem Foundation also offers training in counselling, trauma care and child-centred therapy.
She Writes Woman
This is a women-led movement of love, hope and support that gives Mental Health a voice in Nigeria. The organization has made great strides since its inception in April 2016 and launched the first privately-held, 24-hour mental health line in July 2016 and in April 2018 added a helpline chat service that has received more than 6,000 messages. The 24/7 Mental Health support on the toll-free line is 0800 800 2000. They work with clients in Adamawa, Borno, Kaduna, Lagos, Osun and Oyo. They also provide Free Virtual Therapy Sessions and can be found here on Instagram. In partnership with Airtel Nigeria, they have grown and founded Safe Place Nigeria – a support group where women in Nigeria can meet, discuss mental health issues and get the help they need. So far, more than 800 women have benefitted.
Mental Health for Youth Initiative (MHYI)
This is a non-profit organisation that aims at increasing the public’s awareness of mental health issues while fighting the stigmatisation that is associated with mental health disorders in the Nigerian society. The organization is also concerned with mental health promotion and prevention interventions, with the aim of strengthening individual’s capacity to regulate emotions, improve substitutes to risk-taking behaviours, shape resilience for challenging circumstances and adversities, and promote supportive social environments and social networks.
For the month of May, I wanted to highlight all this organisations I have grown to admire as they have done some phenomenal work with regards to mental health in Nigeria. Take some time to learn more about Mental Health and how you can contribute to your community and country. If you feel you don’t have time, I’ll make it easier for you, go sign this petition to pass Nigeria’s National Mental Health Bill. As of today over 800 signatures have signed and the goal is to get the number to 1,000 signatures. If you would like to listen to our podcast on Mind Over Matter NG, can find us here: