Mediaage NG News – ABUJA, Nigeria
Mental health education aims to make one understand that being an advocate entails looking out for the society.
The state of a student’s mental health can affect his/her studies which is the reason much urgency is required in creating mental health clubs in secondary schools to fight activities that can lead to a sad state of a student’s life.
An unhappy state if not controlled can lead to depression and once a student is in that state, it affects negatively a student’s reading strength.
Founder of Secure D-Future International Initiative, Sa’adatu Adamu said not being able to understand certain things might make one sink into depression. She said sadness which is one of the signs can be detected “if we look out for each other”.
“It begins with how well you got up from sleep in the morning. If you don’t wake up well in the morning, you may not act well the whole of the day, she told students at the inauguration of SDF Mental Health Club on Thursday at Government Day Secondary School, Wuse, Abuja.
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Country Director of SDF, Dr. Mohammed encouraged the students that SDF is driven to provide maximum support and build their capacities “so that when you see someone suffering from drug, sexual and other forms of addiction that does not conform to societal values, you are empowered to talk to them”.
He also said as a mental health club member, a student is trained to be resilient, judicious, courageous, and encouraging to others. He cautioned that students must not fail to voice out when a fellow student is affected mentally by the activities of other students. “It can be one of the solutions to saving the future of the society”, he said.
“SDF is here to secur your future, destiny, potentiality and God given talents. Do not fail the club because, it could be one of the paths to your career in life”, he said.
Dr. Mohammed said the SDF Mental Health Club, with over 700 club members across six schools, is all about creating awareness to get to the grassroots about mental health and ensuring that it get to the minds of the Nigerian child to defend and build their capacities.
Sponsor to the SDF on inauguration of mental health clubs in schools, Bobby Aniefok said for the students volunteering to be part of the club is a very good thing. “It moves you way ahead of your peers – information wise”, he admonished.
He said with the knowledge gotten from the inauguration and subsequent activities, it prepares the students to look out for others when seeing symptoms of one not being in a stable state.
“There are symptoms you can detect in the behaviour of a classmate. You can be able to call them out and suggest they talk to a counsellor, he stated.
“A lot of times, many don’t talk. They keep a lot of things inside them but when they know that there’s someone they can talk to, that’s when the problem starts getting solved. So, understand that you are ambassadors of the mental health club. It is left for you to be that vanguard that can spot people that are showing signs of mental disorder. Be your brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. That’s what it takes to a member of the mental health club. Be kind and show love to each other”, he concluded.
On the progress made on inauguration of mental health clubs across schools in the country, Mrs. Sa’adatu Adamu said it has been amazing and that’s the reason the Secondary School Education Board (SSEB) felt the need to have more schools inaugurated because, from the testimonies, experiences, stories shared by students coming out to speak on issues they have been going through, it’s enough reasons to come to the realisation that more of these activities are needed.
“Now, students understand what mental health is all about. Students can now advocate and speak to others on what mental health entails”, she concluded.
Elections were conducted by the students and had Sani Olabisi, Ogugua Angel, Abdullahi Murtala, Obumanyi Festus, Kenneth Williams picking various positions in the school mental health club.