The theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day was making Mental Health and Well-being for all a global priority. This reveals there is a problem that needs to be curbed with more and more people worldwide are getting depressed, suicide being on the increase, even among youths. In order to preserve lives who are at the core of the Agenda 2030, it is important to place priorities on the mental health of all irrespective of background, race, religion, gender, etc. It is important to create an atmosphere where speaking up is celebrated.
On the 10th of October, 2022, The Sapphires Development Initiative reached out to 100 Senior Secondary School Adolescents in Adifase High School in Apata, Ibadan, Nigeria in commemoration of this year’s World Mental Health Day. Ably led by Ifeoluwa Olumuyiwa, co-facilitated by Precious Adenigbagbe and Adeyosola Aderogba, the students were enlightened on the essence of protecting their mental health even at such a time as this in their lives.
The event was carried out for over 1 hour with the students being divided into groups of tens in order to carry out a mini baseline survey about the knowledge and perceptions of the students with regards to mental health. After this, there was an ice breaking session (getting comfortable with the facilitators and volunteers) and a brief background into mental health, its attributes, and how it comes up in all of our day-to-day activities. Following this, there was the “what if?” session which was extremely engaging as the students shared their thoughts about different personal scenarios like what they would do if they noticed a friend started being quiet after a failed exam, if they were being bullied etc.
