By Moses Nosike

A non profit and non governmental organisation fully registered in Nigeria, Nove Health Africa saddled with the responsibility of creating awareness on mental health seeks to collaborate other players of the Nigerian economy to achieve a holistic approach no emotional and psychological well-being in economic crisis.

Third from left, Managing Director/CEO, Novo Health Africa with dignitaries from other sectors of the economy who participated at recently concluded symposium on mental health organised by Novo Health Africa in Lagos.

Speaking at the symposium in Lagos, Managing Director/CEO, Dr Dorothy Jeff-Nnamani said, “We operate in 36 states in Nigeria raising awareness on mental health. It’s an area Nigerians are ignorant about and because of the stigma in our society people don’t like to talk about mental health. People associate mental health with madness, so we are trying to create that awareness and clear the air on this confusion for people to understand what mental health is all about and should pay attention to it the same way they give physical health, so that people who are having mental health issues in Nigeria would get appropriate help”.

According to Jeff-Nnamani, “Mental health kills faster than physical ill-health if we don’t pay attention. If you are not knowledgeable with the right information anything can happen especially these days Nigeria is experiencing economic recession.

“So, we advise, encourage and provide available health information on mental health for people to discover themselves. It’s a movement that needs collaboration of everybody in the society for people to live mentally sound in our environment.

“We engaged experts from the financial sectors, Nollywood, Women Affairs etc. to speak because this is intrasectoral collaboration due to other external factors that influence our mental health, so we can achieve desired results at the end of the day”.

In addition, Mental Health Physician & Psychotherapist, Dr Maymunah Kadiri, said, “The main thing we are driving home with is how to handle emotional and psychological well-being in time of economic crisis or recession like we are experiencing in Nigeria today.

“Mental health generally is still not acceptable in the society because of stigma attached to it. That is why we are creating awareness on the warning signs, symptoms for people to help themselves and others. So this awareness is a movement and we are urging everybody to join the movement, it is not a one day thing, we’ve been doing for years now and it remains ongoing. We request corporate entities, religion groups etc. to get involved to triple the effect on the society.

”We discussed recession because people tend to be depressed, even though it might not be clinical depression but as a result family and financial challenges. And many took to drug abuse, alcohol and other substances; depression causes poor sleeping habit, sexual dysfunction, low libido and low sexual drive.”

African’s Premier Life Coach, Lanre Olusola, advised on the importance of managing emotional and psychological well-being in economic crisis, saying people should understand their strength and weakness and focus on things they have control over and not things they can’t control. “We don’t focus on negativity, things we don’t want. We must set goals around us, take personal responsibility for your own wellness.

Managing Director, Abilos Financing Services and Director at Ekobank, Mrs Femi Oyetunji, said, “to harmonise this symposium on mental health, Nigerians should learn the habit of setting our priorities right and invest on them for the future, because we need money to answer too many things. To cope with mental health, Nigerians need to think of retirement and plan for it so when that time comes frustration, anger and unhappiness will not ruin your life.”