August 2021 IMCE in Four Minutes
More sunlight. More candor. And more unashamed conversations.
The guest speaker in the person of Dr. Ayotunde Omotosho, founder of Yours Mentally, was introduced. His presentation was titled ‘Youth and Changing Mental Health Needs of Today’s World’ in commemoration of international youth day. He began by defining youth and also gave us the approved definition of Mental health according to the WHO as recognizing, identifying one’s own potential and being able to cope with the normal stresses of life and on a broader scale, being able to contribute meaningfully to society. The presenter discussed the rising rate of mental illness among youths, which is reason enough to find a solution to reduce these numbers. He further explained the benefits of a mentally healthy youth population, one of which includes growing a country with a fast rising GDP and a fluorishing economic.
The speaker discussed traditional sexual and reproductive needs as well as other mental health needs. He stressed on Globalization, COVID-19 and Technology as factors changing mental health needs. He spoke on addressing adolescent needs and narrowed his conversation down from a global standpoint to an African standpoint, finally addressing the adolescent needs of a typical Nigerian youth.
Dr. Omotosho went further to explain how the global bodies for youth health, which includes the World Bank, UNESCO, and World Health Organisation (WHO) all work together to ensure a mentally healthy world. The World Bank looked at youth transition — young people’s journeys from school to post- school study and on to employment — in terms of opportunities, capabilities, and second chances. These perspectives were focused on how youth efficiency fosters economic growth. Using sub-Saharan Africa as a case study, they concluded that there is no proper youth transition as a result of poor policies which leads to limited opportunities. Limited opportunities, in turn, lead to inexperience and a loss of second chances for youths. UNESCO adopted an operational strategy where meetings with youths were held to understand their take on the current state of mental health awareness in the world. They also created initiatives like the Youth As Researchers (YAR) initiative during the COVID-19 outbreak. The YAR initiative seeks to understand the effect of the pandemic on youth’s mental health based on studies carried out by youths. The approach the WHO undertook to meeting adolescent needs is tagged the 4S’s which are Strategic Information, Supportive evidence-informed policies, Services and Strengthening, and supporting other sectors.
Our guest speaker brought our topic into focus by enlightening us on the peculiarities of youth mental health in Africa. He listed the issues plaguing the continent as regards to adolescent mental health needs. He stressed on our need for policies and implementation of mental health laws. Sadly, Nigeria’s mental health bill is yet to be passed into law. He went on to express his concern for the lack of adequate services, calling out for a need to ‘scale up the services’. As stated by Dr. Omotosho, there is about 1 psychiatrist to a million Nigerians. This is not good enough and as a result, something must be done. He discussed the need for youth friendly environment which he described as places where people can learn more about mental health.
In the presentation, we also reviewed the common mental illness among youths. The highlighted illnesses include depression — here he placed emphasis on the differential symptoms depression my present in a youth as compared to the elderly — and substance abuse — he emphasized the rise in youths who actively abuse drugs. From his observation of patients, and to his surprise, he discovered that youths who do not have access to alcohol lock themselves up in pit latrines in the hopes of getting a high.
In the words of Dr. Omotosho, Youths are part of the solution. He stressed the importance of mentorship and how this will serve as an essential tool to solving the pressing issues at hand. He then concluded the presentation with a quote from Glenn Close — “What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor and more unashamed conversations.”
Written by Olaoluwa Tawakalit, a 200 level student of Psychology at the University of Ibadan.
