PROMEHY
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Promotion of Mental Health Amongst Youths (PROMEHY) aged 10 to 24 years Fako Division (Buea, Limbe, Tiko and Mutengene), Southwest Region of Cameroon

Project description
Promotion of Mental health among youths abbreviated PROMEHY is a project which aims to enhance mental health services for young people in the Fako Division. Our approach involves providing mental health services for young people in underserved municipalities in the Fako Division, Southwest region of Cameroon. Through this project we have been able to train community-based peer educators (8) and school-based guidance counselors (6) for the purpose of creating mental health awareness, screenings, providing psychological first aid and referrals to Lifafa Research Foundation’s clinical psychology department. Our clinical psychologists visit communities and schools to offer free counseling to youths identified by our peer educators and guidance counselors. In addition to these counseling sessions, our team organizes mental health awareness tours across community and school settings. Activities carried out during these tours include mental health screenings, resilience-building workshops, and additional counseling sessions. To extend our reach and provide support where physical contact is challenging, we also leverage social media platforms including; Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and WhatsApp as well as a blog series on our website. This digital approach has facilitated ongoing communication, virtual support, and broader engagement with young people.
Problem identification
According to the Cameroon Mental Health Bulletin between 2021 and 2023, Cameroon recorded several cases of mental health disorders with the most prevalent in descending order being psychosis (41,631), depression (18,773) and anxiety (10,151). These disorders alone accounted for 77.68% of all mental health disorders over the last three years which is a representative of a silent public health pandemic. The North West and Centre regions of the country are the most affected with depression closely followed by the South West region of Cameroon. This predominance in the South West region is due to the prevailing insecurity context and as well as the chronic stress linked to urban life. In addition, the ease of access to illicit drugs especially in urbanized settings favours an increase in their consumption which precipitates the development of anxiety and psychosis.
Project objectives
- Raise awareness among guidance counselors and community peer educators
- Train school guidance counselors and community peer educators to prevent mental illness among students and young people, screen for common mental disorders, manage common mental health problems and call on mental health specialists for cases of mental illness;
- Deploy guidance counselors and trained community peer educators within schools and communities so that they ensure ongoing awareness of students and out-of-school youths on mental health and implement the training received
- Set up an official Facebook page and a WhatsApp account to virtually raise awareness among young people about mental health and facilitate communication between these young people and guidance counselors or peer educators’ community.
- Manage cases of mental illness through the Mental Health Caravan. This concept consists of periodically involving experts within both schools and communities through mental health tours which will aim to take care of cases of mental illness detected by guidance counselors and community peer educators.
Expected Outcomes
- Mental health awareness among guidance counselors and community peer educators will be increased.
- School guidance counselors and community peer educators will be trained to prevent mental illness among students and young people, screen for common mental disorders, manage common mental health problems and call on mental health specialists for cases of mental illness.
- Guidance counselors and trained community peer educators will be deployed within schools and communities so that they ensure ongoing awareness of students and out-of-school youths on mental health and implement the training received.
- An official Facebook page and a WhatsApp account will be set up to virtually raise awareness among young people about mental health and facilitate communication between these young people and guidance counselors or peer educators’ community.
- Cases of mental illness will be managed through the Mental Health Caravan. This concept consists of periodically involving experts within both schools and communities through mental health tours which will aim to take care of cases of mental illness detected by guidance counselors and community peer educators.
Key Information
Project Title
Promotion of Mental Health Amongst Youths (PROMEHY) aged 10 to 24 years Fako Division (Buea, Limbe, Tiko and Mutengene), Southwest Region of Cameroon
Funder
This project is funded by Grand Challenges Canada
Project Duration
Launched in April 2023 in Buea, Fako Division, South West Cameroon this project is to last for 24 months
Project Beneficiaries
The project aims to impact over 1,503 young people aged 10-24 years. Peer educators are set to engage over 602 youths in (Buea, Limbe I, Mutengene and Tiko) communities, while guidance counselors will reach out to over 901 students in schools. Among these, 383 youths experiencing moderate to severe symptoms of depression and/or anxiety will receive counseling from our clinical psychologists, with 182 cases referred by peer educators and 201 by guidance counselors.
Project Executor
Lifafa Research Foundation
Executor Contacts
+237 679466143 +237 675204799
Executor Head Office
Great soppo Buea, Southwest region, Cameroon