NOA, NGOs take mental health awareness campaign to schools
The National Orientation Agency (NOA), FCT Directorate, has collaborated with other nongovernmental organisations to create awareness about mental health in the country.
The campaign is aimed at stamping out stigmatisation against people living with mental health challenges.
The agency recently took the awareness campaign to secondary schools, where students were educated about mental health and equally cautioned to shun destructive habits which causes mental disorders.
Speaking during a workshop held at the Government Secondary School, Garki, Abuja, the FCT director of NOA, Moses Abah, explained that “The brain-box of any population is the mental health of its young people and if these young people are mentally challenged, the nation is in trouble.”
In her remarks, the Guidance Counsellor of Government Secondary School, Jabi, Mrs Chiakha Uwaikhena, disclosed that some students covertly engage in harmful practices which affect their health negatively.
Uwaikhena said some smoke Indian hemp while others drink terrible substances. “This campaign is timely as it would help them get off hard drugs,” she added.
The theme of this year’s event, “Dignity in Mental Health” explains the importance of putting an end to stigmatisation against those suffering from mental illness, said Godwin Etim of Gede Foundation, who added that mental challenges has no discrimination as people of calibre could also be affected.