In the Global Statistics 2020, Nigeria recorded a greater number of suicides in Africa, with students having the highest percentage.

Most college students are dealing with mental health illnesses and disorders. They retreat inward rather than seek help for fear of stigma, or not having the right channel to approach for help. They juggle school work and other responsibilities while experiencing mental challenges, leading to poor academic performance, productivity, and mental breakdown.

We seek to reach out to students through the implementation of our “Bridging The Gaps project”. The BTG project aims at closing the vacuum in mental health in the country, particularly among young individuals. We will be educating students on mental health issues and proffering coping skills. Our goal is to improve accessibility to mental health care/service and deliver psychological first aid to students struggling with mental illness and disorder within the university community through an online intervention platform.

We hope to address these mental health concerns early before they become too severe, creating a safe space for students to seek help as well as tackling the stigma and discrimination that are associated with mental illness and mental health conditions. Students will be equipped with the right mental health knowledge to build resilience.

Primary/secondary school students are also beneficiaries of the project. We will organise training on basic mental health for students, teachers, and parents in schools within each University environment. Adolescence is a turbulent stage and at this point, it is best to catch them young and psycho-educate them. We will not just educate the students but also train teachers and parents to be able to recognise these issues early and know, not just what to look out for, but what to do about it.

The project will take place in 4 Tertiary institutions, 20 Primary/Secondary schools, and 10 Communities across 3 geo-political zones. We intend for this project to run from July 2020 to December 2024 and across 3 geo-political zones, Lagos/Ogun, Abuja, and Imo state.

This project is funded by Comic Relief with the support of the CBM Global Disability and Inclusion