How Schools Can Address Mental Health Among their Community
By Ifeanyi M. Nsofor
Every year, the month of May is celebrated as mental health awareness month. The World Health Organization defines mental health as, a state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. It is imperative to keep amplifying the importance of mental health because it is necessary for the wellbeing of everyone.
This year, discussions about mental health are even more imperative as the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted many people’s mental health. For instance, in a previous article, I wrote about the increased cases of people dying by suicides in several countries, including Nigeria.
But of course, mental health encompasses much more than suicide. In 2019, my firm EpiAFRIC and Africa Polling Institute conducted a nationwide survey on mental health with over 5,000 people. Forty-eight percent of the respondents said they knew people with mental health disease.
Despite many people knowing someone with mental health challenges, other survey results show that many of us still do not understand the causes of mental health issues, what it looks like nor how to help someone with it. For instance, 70% of the respondents believe that mental health disease is, “When someone starts running around naked,” and 54% said mental illness is caused by “Possession by evil spirits.”
Having the right information is very important because it helps us spot signs of mental health illness and ensure the person gets the right care.
Schools have important roles to play because they contribute by training and grooming students for the future, in partnership with governments, parents and guardians. These four steps would enable students, teachers, administrators, parents and caregivers to better understand mental health and become advocates.
First, every school must ensure that at least a member of staff is trained as a mental health counsellor. Some schools already have nurses. They should be the first staff to be trained as mental health counsellors, helping educate students for better mental health awareness and modelling positive behaviour change. Despite the lack of adequate number psychiatrists in Nigeria (only 200 for 200 million Nigerians), there are NGOs that provide this kind of training. One of such NGOs is Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative. The organization has curated resources to help improve knowledge on mental health. There are also opportunities to volunteer and gain knowledge to mainstream mental health conversations.
Second, everyone must learn how to show empathy and speak kindly to one another. Kindness has dual benefits — both for the giver and receiver. Children and adults deal with all sorts of stresses that we are unaware of. This is why it is important that the words we speak are uplifting and empowering to each other. Further, in a patriarchal society such as Nigeria, it is common for men to be revered but women and children denigrated. This must stop because all humans are created equal. Therefore, teachers must be trained to stop all forms of corporal punishments and use kind, affirmative words when correcting students. School authorities must also model kind behaviours among students and encourage them to be kind to one another. Through Parents Teachers Associations, school administrators should educate parents to do the same at home.
Third, school curriculum should include mental health awareness modules, focused on teaching basic mental health information to students. Such modules should be delivered using training videos, graphics and role-plays. Making the sessions practical and interactive would help students spot signs of depression, show empathy to one another, understand why bullying is wrong and help those being bullied to report to school authorities. Signs of depression in childhood include, low mood that does not go away, being irritable or grumpy all the time, not being interested in things they used to enjoy and feeling exhausted a lot of the time. Children can be allies in picking up these signs among their peers.
Lastly, to help improve students’ mental health status, they could go into nature. There is a strong connection between nature and better mental health. According to the UK Mental Health Foundation, more than 50% of UK adults say being close to nature improves their mental health, 40% say nature makes them feel less anxious and almost 67% say being close to nature makes them have positive emotions. As Nigerians, we are lucky to have an abundance of nature to explore. Therefore, schools could organise excursions to parks and zoos so children can explore. Parents and caregivers can do so as well. Government must have guidelines that would ensure city planning is done by planting trees and creating family-friendly parks.
We must keep amplifying the right messaging on mental health, showing empathy and directing sufferers of mental health illness to the right places for care. The American actress, Glenn Close captures this aptly, “What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.”
About the Author
Dr. Ifeanyi M. Nsofor is a medical doctor. He is Senior New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute Washington DC and Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity at George Washington University. Dr. Nsofor is CEO of EpiAFRIC and Director of Policy and Advocacy at Nigeria Health Watch. You can follow him @ekemma on Twitter
