School outreaches
We create awareness of mental health well-being among secondary school youth and staff through Education, counseling services, and advocacy.
Our school outreach focuses on empowering youth and young adults in secondary schools with knowledge and skills about mental health and wellbeing. A team of mental health champions is assigned a school where he/she mentors students on mental health knowledge and well-being issues. This is to ensure that students learn and develop in an informed environment about their mental health well-being, be in a position to support those in need of mental health support, and be mental health champions in their immediate communities.
Some of the activities done in school include starting up mental health clubs, conducting drama skits with themes of mental health, creating awareness, designing a speaking compound on issues related to mental health, and setting up a counseling/listening corner for students (safe corner).
Key areas of focus
Teachers’ training
This aims to empower teachers with mental health knowledge and help them understand the basic means of handling mental health challenges and emergencies for students. Given that students seek help from teachers for most of the challenges including health, training teachers in mental health skills will help them know how to handle students’ challenges (mental health related).
These trainings also help the teachers understand their mental health well-being, how to seek health care, and how to live mentally healthy lives.
As a foundation, we believe “A mentally stable teacher, produces a mentally stable student”
Key areas of focus
Mental health clubs
To create awareness, we focus on creating clubs in schools that empower students with knowledge of mental health and well-being. These clubs also nurture students in leadership and mentorship on mental health issues.
The club members will become mental health champions to their peers and community. The club members will participate in activities such as drama skits and organizing mental health awareness days in their school.
Students Camp
The annual mental health awareness students camp is a space that brings youth (young people in secondary schools) together to gather and be trained about mental health, empowering them to become health champions to their peers and communities.
The primary objective of the camp is mental health and well-being. The camp will also focus on leadership development and the students’ reproductive health. Several experienced persons are brought on board to speak, teach, and share their experiences with the students to help them make informed decisions.
The camp is a four-day residential camp that happens at a small fee determined by the organizers before commencement.
The Safe Corner
PYFU has set up meeting points with the schools called the safe corner. This room is where a trained mental health personnel (counselor) meets individual students and offers counseling. We adopted this approach because the students said they would feel safer to open up to professionals from outside than their teachers.
A champion-trained individual from PYFU manages this corner. He/she visits the safe corner twice a month during the school term to interact with the students. A referral is made to the partner hospital/health facilities for severe cases.
Camp Objectives
- To equip students with mental health knowledge, how to use it to care for themselves, and also to become a person of influence to their peers and the community on mental health and wellbeing issues.
- To expose the young people to individuals who have overcome mental health challenges; so the students can learn from them as they make lifetime decisions.
- To empower the students with leadership skills and knowledge of reproductive health to influence their mental health and well-being as they transition into adulthood.
What We Do
We create and build communities of mental health champions by empowering individuals in their immediate communities to fight mental illness stigma.
We create an environment where people live free from mental health stigma and can freely seek health services.