A United Kingdom-based Mental Health Charity, Mind Body and Soul (MBS), has intervened in the mental health crisis among students in Acholi sub-region.
This week, the organization set up and trained Five Peer to Peer Counseling groups in secondary schools in Gulu City in the Acholi sub-region.
The goal is to provide emotional and psychosocial support to secondary and university students anxious over or depressed by examinations.
Findings from the Mental Health Unit at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital indicate that the two forms of mental illnesses are the most common amongst the student community in the city.
Up to 10 or 15 students are being treated there every month, especially around examination periods, findings indicate.
Christine Larubi, a psychologist from the Unit confirmed the figures, saying the “organization’s intervention among the student community is critical as the burden of drugs is taking a toll on students in the Acholi sub-region as a whole.”
Outside schools, the annual Uganda Police Crime Report for 2024 indicates that the burden of gender-based violence driven by high uptake of alcohol and drugs remain high in Post conflict northern Uganda.
Mental health school clubs
Dr. Justine Nakimuli Kigozi Odwongo, the founder of Mind, Body and Soul (MBS) commissioned the operations of the school clubs in Gulu High School, Gulu Army Secondary School, Sacred Heart Girls’ Secondary School, Bishop Angelo Negri College and St Joseph’s College Layibi.
According to Dr. Kigozi, a psychiatry consultant with more than two decades of experience, school clubs have proven records of promoting positive engagement amongst students.
Among schools in Kampala, Dr. Kigozi said, the initiative significantly reduced cases of depression and examination anxiety among secondary and university students.
Before the clubs were launched over the weekend from Gulu University, students, teachers, psychiatrists, and psychologists from the sub region gathered at Gulu University for an awareness dialogue.
In 2024, a Gulu University student committed suicide in his hostel during the end of Semester examinations. It was alleged that he had lost his tuition in gambling.
They were introduced to early diagnosis of mental health among students and teachers using signs and symptoms of the condition.
“School clubs promote positive health seeking behaviors amongst students. And when a student knows that it is perfectly normal to seek help, he or she will most likely be helped,” Dr. Kigozi stated.
Leo Apita, a school nurse at Gulu High School acknowledges the inert lack of knowledge and skills among teachers on how to handle anxious and depressed students.
The above, he says, has contributed to increasing cases of mental health in schools.
Applause
Many years ago, Mark Otim, a teen at the time, got trapped in a vicious cycle of drug abuse he learned from his older roommates in the school dormitory.
The addiction forced school authorities to expel him 14 different times from various schools.
It took months of rehabilitation at the Gulu City based Program for Prevention, Awareness, Counselling and Treatment of Alcoholism/Addiction (PACTA) to get Otim back to his feet of health.
Today, Otim is an avid Mental Health campaigner within Gulu City. He says the intervention of MBS should be applauded by all stakeholders.
He believes the initiative will improve school based outreaches and reduce stigma associated with mental health in the community.
Mind, Body and Soul expects to upscale the project to other schools when the Pilot phase proves success.
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