Jela’s Development Initiatives, JDI, a nonprofit organisation, supported by TY Danjuma Foundation, has organised a three-day mental health awareness programme for teachers, counsellors, and administrators across four notable public secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The programme, which took place at the Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, between August 24 and 26, 2022, also flagged off the institution of JDI Mental Health Clubs in the selected schools.
Founder of JDI, Angela Ochu-Baiye, said: “The training was specifically for principals, VPs, counsellors and teachers in four public secondary schools. They went through a robust mental health curriculum and a series of extensive exercises in preparation for new students coming in for the next academic year. We are, essentially, instituting our Mental Health Clubs in the schools”.
Ochu-Baiye, who disclosed that the programme was backed by the FCT Board for Secondary Education, hinted that the Mental Health Clubs would fundamentally address critical social issues of cultism, drug abuse, bullying and negative peer pressure which are prevalent in secondary schools, adding that “this is the first time mental health clubs will be instituted in public secondary schools”.
The four schools that benefitted from the programme are Government Secondary School Gwagwa, Government Secondary School Airport, Government Secondary School Jabi and Government Girls Secondary School Dutse.
According to JDI, the Psychology students of Nile University were also part of the training, as the nonprofit signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the university to build the capacities of the students since the programme was about mental health.
Ochu-Baiye further expressed gratitude to the TY Danjuma Foundation, Nile University and the FCT Board for Secondary Education for their support in actualising the programme, while urging for more partnership to sustain the impact and extend the programme to other secondary schools in the FCT and other parts of the country.
