LAGOS/Nigeria: Ms Halima Layeni, A Mental Health Advocate, has urged government to provide more social support centres for men in order to win the war against sexual abuse and prevent suicides.
Layeni, Founder, Life After Abuse Foundation, an NGO, made the call on Thursday at a virtual discourse on “Creating Hope through Action” in Lagos.
The discourse was in commemoration of the World Suicide Prevention Day which is marked on Sept. 10.
The event, which was organised by Across All Initiative for Mental Health and Stigma Eradication, an NGO, was part of its suicide awareness campaign titled, “Save A Life (#SALI)”.
According to Layeni, there are not many social support centres for men.
“When you look at the issue of abuse, you realise that men are the perpetrators of violence.
“A study by the United Nations shows that 98.9 per cent rape perpetrators are men which points us to the fact that men are the ones who need help.
“They are broken and neglected; probably the ones who have been sexually abused,” she said.
She said that male sexual abuse was under-reported and expressed dismay over a study that showed one in 10 men had been sexually abused.
“I was on a Twitter handle and saw a thread of a boy that came out to say he has been abused.
“Also, I saw a lot of men under same thread, telling their stories of how they have been abused as a child; how their first exposure to sex was actually from their housemaids.
“These are many people’s stories, but it is under-reported, because the society does not allow men to express themselves,” she said.
Layeni urged government at all levels to start investing more in mental health by setting up more social support systems, not just for abuse or domestic violence.
She said, however, that such support systems should also be geared toward people who have suffered grief, loss or lack.
“These are things that drive people to suicide.
“There should be a system in place, just having a safe haven where people can walk in and get help basically, ” she said.
In his remarks, the Founder, Across All Initiative, Mr Seun Dosunmu, said Emotional Intelligence (EI) was essential in creating hope through actions in preventing suicides.
He said that when people express an understanding of other people’s emotions and environment, then such people found it easy to reach out to speak on their challenges.
“They see us as role models and someone they can confide in; when people are going through struggles, they need other people to speak with and then we position ourselves in that manner.
Dosunmu said that the awareness campaign kicked off with a run on Sept. 4, followed by a series of discourse surrounding mental health by various mental health experts.
“Whether we talk about it or not, someone somewhere is contemplating suicide, hence the need to continue talking about it and lending support.
“This intervention will go a long way to averting a potential suicide case, ” Dosunmu said.
