NGO commences two days training for 21 mental health ambassadors in Lagos
Women Right and Health Project (WRAHP) and Ireti Resource Centre, in partnership with African Women Development Fund (AWDF) has commenced two days training for 21 ambassadors in Lagos on mental health on Wednesday.
WRAHP team leader, Manager of Ireti Resource Center and Local Affiliate Partner, Bose Ironsi, said that the training was put together because they see a lot of people who don’t even understand mental health.
Ironsi said and there was need for people to understand that mental health was as important as every other thing.
She said a lot of people are going to depression, a lot of people are stressed as a result of so many reasons and there was need for people to pay attention to that issue.
“Beyond that, we also know that there are people who are specifically in need of that kind of care, the mental health care, or for them to even understand it. And when they are interacting with other people, they understand that people are passing through this process.
“So we are happy that organisations like AWDF are keen, are concerned about the mental well-being of community people, persons that serve people, the frontliners, we call them and then the vulnerable people across sex.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean whether you are a woman or a man, but every one of us, what is happening within the environment affects everybody.
“So, and that is why we are putting this training together, that we get the people that are also reaching out to other people,” she said.
Ironsi said the NGOs felt that there was need for them to have a first-hand information and they are happy that Lagos State was also taking this very seriously.
She disclosed that the LagosMIND was one of the facilitators, which shows that there was a collective response to these issues of mental health of people in Lagos and urge everyone to be concerned about mental health.
A facilitator, the Media, Marketing and Publicity Lead for LagosMIND, Ms Toke Owoseni, enlightened the participants on understanding mental health, the basic things about mental health, the myth, fact surrounding mental health stigma, and also some of the common mental health challenges.
Owoseni also enlightened the participants on addressing barriers affecting mental health in women and vulnerable groups.
She said that she expects participants to understand the basic knowledge about mental health and be able to offer psychological first aid in their community.
Speaking, a participant, Joint National Association of Person with Disability (JONAPWD) Women leader, Lagos State Mrs Turkson Abigail, said that she learned a lot in the training.
Abigail said she has new knowledge about mental health, even the ones that she don’t even know was part of it.
She said henceforth, she would put what she has learned into practise and step it down during their women meeting so that they too could make use of it during intervention on mental cases.
