Accra, Oct. 13, GNA – Mental health conditions does not know people with status, everyone is at risk, Ms Angela Aikins, a member of the Ghana Psychological Association (GPA) has said.
Ms Aikins, who is also a Mental Health Coach, has therefore called for increased awareness on mental health conditions to save lives in the country.
Ms Aikins said this at a Senior High School (SHS) Mental Health outreach to commemorate this year’s World Mental Health Day, at the O’Rielly SHS, Okpoi Gonno, on the Spintex in Accra.
The event which was themed: “Your Mind Matters, Speak Up,” was held by Mindscape Global Network, a youth-led mental health advocacy group in collaboration with the Ghana Psychological Association, POS Foundation and Shine the Light.
The Mental Health Coach stressed the need to increase resources in various counselling Units of SHSs, so that personnel would be able to offer professional services to students.
She also appealed to students to feel free and seek help whenever they had any mental health condition.
Ms Aikins said: “Speak up, don’t die in silence, you need to identify some teachers who you can talk to so they can help you. If you don’t speak up, nobody will know what you are going through. What you think and how your feel can affect your behaviour.”
She noted that often, people with traits of mental health conditions became more aggressive, lived in isolation, exhibited low learning abilities, and had changes in personal hygiene and dressing.
She listed some of the mental health conditions as depression and stress, anxiety, and schizophrenia.
The Mental Health Coach said the fact that people with mental conditions cry, did not mean they were weak.
Ms Aikins urged the students to also do away with negative and suicidal thoughts and feed their minds with positive issues.
“Understand what is affecting you because mental health has to do with the mind, emotions and behaviours.
Ms Akosua Agyepong Mensah, the Convenor of Mindscape Global Network, said it was important for the public to spread kindness, and show empathy to people with visible mental health conditions.
Ms Mensah, affectionately called Akosua Yesuba, noted that as the World celebrated Mental Health Day, SHSs could not be left out of the equation, because several students experienced stress, peer and family pressures, as well as social media comparison, leading to psychological ill-health.
She said the outreach was to enable students to seek help before issues developed into depression or stress.
Ms Mensah said breaking stigma around mental health especially among boys was key, stressing the need to build resilience and affirmation for them.
She was optimistic that at the end of the outreach, they would be able to raise mentally healthy students for a productive future.
Mr Jonathan Osei-Owusu, the Executive Director, POS Foundation, appealed to churches to provide their congregations with mental health counsellors to educate them, particularly on challenges in marriages.
“We need to conscientise the youth to accept the realities of life,” she said.
Mr Osei-Owusu said mental health conditions are real, and they start gradually before they blossom to become a major health challenge.
He appealed to the youth especially the males to seek professional counselling and care from clinical psychologists.
Mr Osei- Owusu noted that cultural factors prevented men from men and boys from speaking about trauma and challenges.
“We often say men don’t cry. This has become a major challenge for fathers, husbands, boys and men to speak out they are molested or abused, ” he added.
Mrs Celestina Adusah-Poku, the Assistant Headmistress (Domestic), O’Rielly SHS, commended the four organisations for marking this year’s World Mental Health Day with the school.
Mrs Adusah- Poku said the School’s Counselling Unit was under resourced and appealed to organisations to support them.
She stressed the need to provide more counselling for the boy- child, whom much attention was often not given.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
Reporter: Joyce Danso