1965 Calls. 131 Hours of Tele-Therapy. 195 Community Members. 57 Advocates. 194,617 Total Reach.
This is how far the She Writes Woman Mental Health Initiative has come in 2021, and it’s all thanks to you!
Dear Donor,
When we set out in 2016 to give mental health a voice in Nigeria, we never imagined just how much support – or how much impact – we’d make! A single person’s experience as a person living with a mental health condition in Nigeria has amassed an impactful movement that is helping empower persons living with mental health conditions in Nigeria by telling their own stories, co-creating their own solutions, and advocating for their own rights.
In the first quarter of 2021, with your help, She Writes Woman has handled 1,965mental health support calls - a significant 2789% increase from last quarter’s 68 calls - through our 24/7 toll-free mental health helpline, 0800 800 2000. With calls averaging 15 minutes, we’ve been able to provide 1,292 Nigerians with immediate mental health first aid, becoming the first point-of-contact for many households. We’ve also succeeded in providing 131 hours of teletherapy to Nigerians, helping beneficiaries navigate issues such as depression, eating disorders, PTSD, anxiety amongst others. Our closed virtual community, Safe Place Nigeria, has provided access to 195 Nigerians with closed virtual space where daily access to mental health professionals, self-care tools, wellness resources, and digital mental healthcare is accessed. We’ve also provided 57 Nigerians living with mental health conditions with strategic advocacy training, in our continuous push to ensure that persons living with mental health conditions are robustly consulted in matters or legislation that affect them.
All this, you’ve helped us build with your continued generosity and support!
The World Health Organization reports that there are over 40 million Nigerians living with mental health conditions. In 2021, even more Nigerians risk their mental wellness due to the unprecedented effects of the movement restriction order and lockdown resulting from the COVID-19, the #EndSARS protests which shut down major cities in the country, and the continued increase in insecurity and kidnapping.
Now, more than ever, our mission to empower persons living with mental health conditions in Nigeria is important. With your help, we’re closer to our goal of helping 100,000 Nigerians – out of 40 million – access mental healthcare; we’re a little bit closer to our vision of improving the way Nigerians feel, think and behave.
As we pursue this goal through 2021, we’ll be celebrating our 5th year anniversary by highlighting the importance of mental wellness and healthcare in Nigeria. We’ll underline the identifying barriers for persons living with mental health conditions, and proffer our solutions to these problems. Finally, we’ll showcase how far we’ve come with your support and just how much more we can do with a little more.
Let’s keep giving mental health a voice in Nigeria with love, hope, and support!
Links:
Final Report (July 2020 – December 2020)
GlobalGiving Grant Report
Organization Name: SHE WRITES WOMAN MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE
Project Name: GlobalGiving (Accelerator)
Contact Person: HAUWA OJEIFO
Grant Award Amount: 4,924,448.34Project Duration: 6 MONTH
Total number of clients served from GlobalGiving: 207
Indicate the area or neighbourhood (s) where services were provided: National
Program Project Description: Safe Place Nigeria is a virtual community that consists of both open and closed communities. The current open community has over 22,000 people across all our platforms and have access to all our services. The closed community is in collaboration with Facebook Groups and seeks to provide a deeper engagement to mental health-conscious Nigerians by providing access to self-care tools, digital mental healthcare, and wellness practices at a fee. The project also widely includes our 24/7 toll-free helpline and our free online virtual therapy sessions.
Major Outcomes Narrative:
Activities
The activities on Safe Place Nigeria are split into three parts.
Impact
Helpline & Counseling
Due to the effects of recent events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the #EndSARS protests, She Writes Woman created the first national mental health helpline in October 2020. This line was used as a point of help for anyone who needed it due to the trauma from recent events.
From October till now, the helpline has received calls from about 63 people.
EXPENSE BREAKDOWN
Expenses below represent 6 months of activities – July to December
EXPENSE
DESCRIPTION
NGN
Balance Carried Forward from 30 June 2020
771,041.01
Amount Received between July and December
380,207.33
Total Amount available to spend
1,151,248.34
Salaries - July to December
Executive Director
270,000.00
Programmes Coordinator
180,000.00
Safe Place Coordinator
180,000.00
Finance
120,000.00
Counsellors
250,000.00
Graphics & Content Creation
July to December
100,000.00
Internet, Data and Mobile Credit
July to December
49,000.00
Total Amount disbursed to date
1,149,000.00
Amount Left as at 31 December 2020
2,248.34
Links:
We had great plans for 2020!
After a landmark appearance at the Nigerian National Assembly in February 2020, we were set to accelerate a mental health movement that would potentially alter the human rights of persons with mental health conditions in Nigeria.
And then COVID-19 struck and the world as we knew it began to change.
While this pandemic continues to affect us all, it is important to note that it does not affect us equally.
About 900 incidences of sexual violence were reported in Nigeria and a spike in mental health distress was evident due to drastic changes in socio-economic dynamics. More so, persons already living with mental health conditions had to deal with significant changes in routine and lack of accessible mental healthcare.
Our community needed a Safe Place, so we swung into action. You swung into action.
We partnered with diverse mental health professionals to expand our 24/7 mental health helpline and counseling for free, while providing monthly virtual support groups to foster shared experience and connection.
You did this.
Because of you -
115 people got access to immediate crisis first response
About 97 people have been beneficiaries of our support group
We spent 693 minutes and 47 seconds providing love, hope and support for those who need it.
18.26% of those who called our helpline were survivors of sexual and gender-based violence,
13.91% called because of relationship-induced stress, and
66.9% were connected to counselors while 6% were connected to other mental health professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists and coaches.
Because of you, we continue to work so that no one is left behind.
And with your help, we can do so much more.
Thank you for providing love, hope and support to over 250 beneficiaries.
Let's do more.
Links:
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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