By Saio Marrah
Foundation for Rural and Urban Transformation (FoRUT) in partnership with Creating Opportunities for Disadvantaged Persons (CODaP) and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MODS) have trained 30 youths as Counsellors on substance abuse and mental health.
The three-day training programme held at the Buxton Church in Freetown commenced on Tuesday 12 and ended yesterday 14th September 2023.
The youths were drawn from different communities within the capital to serve as counsellors in their various communities.
The Director of CODaP, Sahid Bangura, told the participants during the training that a psychoactive substance is a drug that changes the mind and brain of an individual.
He therefore called on the counsellors that drugs are very sensitive substances and that one should not consume a drug without a prescription by a medical doctor.
According to him, there are various ways in which people get addicted to drugs, noting that it could be as a result of peer influence or family background. He also asserted that addiction is not by choice but a sickness.
The Head of Programmes FoRUT, Alhassan Jalloh, who taught the counsellors called on them to encourage people to let go or ignore things that stress them up- key reason for mental breakdown.
He also highlighted categories of mental disorder among which he said is autism, personality disorder and Fatal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASDs).
He informed Politico that the training on substance abuse and mental health is because they had realized the growing spate of substance abuse among youngsters especially using the latest and common substance called “Kush.”
He also highlighted community response to drug misuse in the form of naming, shaming and stigmatizing them. “Therefore, we came in as an organization in a bid to mobilize community stakeholders, who are the opinion leaders for them to have a good understanding of substance abuse and mental health and how to tackle stigma,” he said.
He said the training is geared towards ensuring the counselors get the required understanding about whether to shame, stigmatize or render support to the substance abusers to change their actions.
Jalloh said the participants are to roll out what they have learnt by doing community outreach in tackling stigma on people with mental health disorders and those using drugs.
He said they are also in partnership with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, which he said provided technical support.
The National Mental Health Coordinator at MOHS, Kadiatu Savage trained the counsellors on the topic “advancing mental health and tackling stigma against persons living with mental health conditions.”
She told the participants that mental illness develops through childhood, during pregnancy and by accident.
The treatment of mental disorders she said is more of counseling with medication the last resort.
After encouraging the participants to desist from stigmatizing people with mental disorders, she also noted that self-stigmatization is the worst case scenario and that they should encourage affected people not to stigmatize or discourage themselves.
Commenting on how to overcome mental illness, she said one should not overstress in the workplace, and should work according to their ability and accept things as they are.
She also pointed out that people should open up and talk about their problems, and socialize, to avert stress.
To live a happy life, she said women in particular have to be sexually satisfied, stressing that a woman who always gets orgasm from intercourse will always be happy.
She also told Politico that as counsellors, the ministry needs to supervise and know what they are doing and give them (counsellors) the technical support.
She said the training ranges from basic knowledge of mental health, illness, depression and stigma pointing out there is more of stigma in communities.
Ms. Savage said they had taught the counsellors to direct those who do not recover from the counseling, to professionals rather than taking the law into their hands by beating them or calling the police.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (15/09/23)
