In a move to help people living with stress, emotional and psychological instability regain their mental balance, Arogi Turame Care Foundation – a non for profit organisation, has launched a centre to provide free therapy access and counselling for traumatized Nigerians.
Speaking during the Arogi Foundation maiden conference themed ‘Dealing with life’s emotional struggles’ Otis Ojeikhoa, president and founder of Arogi Foundation said the vision of the foundation is to bring succour to people living with stress, depression, and emotional and psychological instability.
“What we are doing today is to officially launch Arogi into the community as we continue on the path of helping people. We came together with the vision of putting together an organisation that will help people manage or deal with emotional trauma at no cost,” he said.
According to him, the initiative was borne out of a personal experience when he was able to come out of depression through the help and support of people.
“Having been through an emotional phase, I felt that there was a need to have an organisation that will help people in such a difficult emotional period.”
He noted that several Nigerians are traumatised and when they are unable to get the help they need and the pain becomes unbearable, many resorts to committing suicide.
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In his keynote address, Andrew Zamani, a professor of psychology at the Institute of Governance and Development Studies at Nasarawa State University, Keffi urged Nigerians to always talk about their emotions instead of finding solace in alcohol
“Trauma has been a very elusive mental situation in this country, and right now, I think we are taking the bull by the horn,” he said.
“Research has it that most alcohol abusers are depressed, and alcoholism is a means by which people try to cope with their daily life challenges; albeit maladaptive,” he explained.
“And when people who abuse alcohol discover that they cannot bury their woes and escape the reality of their stresses, they tend to repeat and increase their indulgence. That eventually leads to depression because they soon realize that alcohol does not solve the problem.”
Similarly, Andrea Oduobi-Teke, an award-winning media and communications expert, said mental health is an individual’s physical health, noting that it is about having a sound mind.
She said the country has not taken the issue of mental health seriously as there is still a lot of misconception as most people believe that coming out to express that you have a mental illness means you are crazy.
She noted that understanding what mental health is will help clear all these misconceptions, noting that the cost of living crisis in the country is enough to trigger frustration, anger, and emotions that affect individual mental health.
She appreciated the Arogi Foundation for creating an outfit that can administer trauma care for free to Nigerians suffering from any form of mental illness.
