NGO takes mental health awareness campaign to secondary schools in Ibadan

As part of its effort to create mental health awareness across Africa, Mental Drive Africa (MDA), a non-governmental organisation, recently commenced its mental health campaign across public secondary schools in South-West Nigeria.

The campaign started on June 29, 2022, with participants from Ikolaba High School, Bashorun/Ojoo High School, St Patrick Boys High School, and Methodist Grammar School Bodija in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The Founder and Director of Operations at Mental Drive Africa, Omodarasimi Precious Salami, said the programme was organised to educate the students on what mental health is and how to deal with the mental health issues some of them are faced with.

She said: “We were inspired to create awareness for teenagers/secondary school students between age 11 and 19 through a mental health campaign across public secondary schools in South-West Nigeria where we forged ahead with an action plan of four things; letting them understand what mental health is, how to deal with the mental health issues some of them are faced with, through psych-evaluation and counselling.

“We launched mental health clubs/safe spaces in each school in partnership with the state government and also signed up Mental Drive Africa júniors as ambassadors of the club and mental health at large.

“Ibadan being the physical site of operations for Mental Drive Africa, we chose to start out in our neighbourhood.”

Salami explained that MDA was established out of the need to help people create safe spaces to bare out their souls and to also create mental health awareness across Africa, one community at a time while putting an end to the stigma faced by many with mental health issues.

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She further added that MDA “advocates fiercely for the right of an African, whether young/old, to quality mental health care and well-being. In summary, MDA was created to see to the needs of Africans who need to realise what mental health is, its importance, the need for treatment and the availability of safe spaces for people to shed soul weights.”

While speaking on the future plan of the mental health campaign, Salami said the school campaign programme is going to be a frequent project

“We started out in 2020 with just one school, for 2022 we have our eyes set on about 15 to 20 and we have realised that to have mentally healthy and responsible adults in the society, it starts from the teenage years.

“We have also partnered with strong brands who are super ready to push this with us; Zero Drugs Initiative, Indomie, Wema Bank Plc, Keep EveryRehabilitation Centres in Ibadan, the Oyo State Government (specifically the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC),” she added.

Salami also added that the feedback gotten from the students and teachers was highly encouraging.

“The amount of mental weight the young adults are wrapped in is forcing them to resort to drugs, sex or cybercrime as a means of escape. We had close to 1000 students voluntarily sign up to be ambassadors and we are currently still pressed with ideas on how to screen them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“After each session with the students and teachers, we had the Q and A segment which allowed students to ask questions freely, all I can say is there are too many broken adults out there who don’t deal with the mental health issues they’ve faced over time, they begin to have kids and become parents who bleed on the innocent kids, only for these children to grow also into adults who have been injured psychologically, socially or emotionally,” she said.

Mental Drive Africa started out in September 2020 with a team of two and has grown into a team of 25 with two virtual support groups with over 450 campus advocates, across Nigeria which is the pilot phase of operations.