A mental health foundation, Jars Education Group has called on the government and critical stakeholders to support in the provision of community mental healthcare delivery to the people.
Speaking at the launch of Lagos Community Trauma Care initiative, the Chief Executive officer of the foundation, Prof. Akindotun Merino said that it has become imperative for proper collaboration to address the issues of mental wellness across the country.
Merino who explained that efforts must be intensified towards the management of mental health of Nigerians, said that this would help to sustain the social and economic development.
Psychological management
Prof. Merino decried the rate of mental disorder in Nigeria and emphasized that there is an urgent need for a cohesive action to better manage the psychological health of the citizens.
“Our first goal is trauma awareness and today we are launching a community trauma care center for Lagos and the goal is to introduce community mental health in Nigeria as an affordable place that people can go to where they can cater for their emotional and psychological health.
“The initiative is very important because trauma is pervasive in the community which goes beyond accident. It involves high stress, emotional stress, it could rape, suicide, high rate of depression, even traffic alone could be traumatic. Adverse childhood experiences, anything that has come to disrupt your life, it could divorce, domestic violence, and many more,” she said
Loss due to mental health
Merino mentioned that Nigeria has as a result of its low awareness on mental health, lost copious resources to develop its frontiers.
According to her, “Nigeria looses over 57 billion naira per year on mental issues because some people may not go to work and cannot perform at their best because they were challenged by some kind of depressed state. Mental health is not all about someone on the street naked, it is about us to be psychologically sane, emotionally healthy, financially viable and socially connected and we are a community helping each other.
No matter how intelligent you are, if you are not mentally well, you will not give the best of yourself.”
She said that Jars initiative is not for those in the psychiatric wards. “What we are doing is for the community, it is for someone who does not need to have medication, but they know something is wrong with them; we have Trauma trained specialists who will cater for them”
She said the foundation is working to bridge the gap in the area of addressing those in the middle by providing affordable care for them, while Government takes charge of the mentally-ill patients.
She therefore canvassed for more Trauma trained personnel in order to drop the rate of mental disorder in the country.
More awareness
The Wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu who was represented at the occasion stressed the need to create more awareness about the health challenge.
Sanwo-Olu, represented by Dr. Olayinka Jibuna commended the initiative which according to her was geared towards a healthy State, while she urged citizens of the country to avail themselves the opportunity to receive the mental care.
According to her, a report conducted by the World Health Organization shows that Nigeria has Africa’s highest case of depression and it is ranked 15th in the world in the frequency of suicidal cases. She however called for training of personnel in that field.
“Mental health is so important and the awareness is very low and this necessitated the measure to bring to the front burner.
This staggering reality is a pointer to the fact that all hands have to be on deck towards improving the help-seeking behaviour on matters that trigger depression among Nigerians and ultimately ramp up mental health awareness in the country,” she said
She added that the Office of the first lady had in the past done a pilot study on mental health in some part of Lagos which will help to generate data that will facilitate planning on the issues of mental health.
Identifying trauma
Jibuna said “if we say that everything is trauma, then nothing is trauma; it signifies stressful-like event that happens to an individual and he doesn’t have the human and cognitive and emotional resources to cope with the trauma.
“Trauma or depression differs from age, gender, social status, previous state of mind.
“A deviation from the norm is a pointer to know that such a person is having trouble; how they behave, sleeping more or less, becoming aggressive, turning to copping strategies like drinking, smoking. People must realize that if you are traumatized, you can get help, you can get physical fist aid.”
Others who spoke at the event called on the government, schools, NGOs, philanthropists and other stakeholders not to relent in investing towards the welfare of those who have active mental issues even as Jars Therapeutics give their best towards counselling and treating Nigerians because mental health is community health which is the nation’s wealth.
Nneka Ukachukwu
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