With the prevailing scale of insecurity, socio-political and economic challenges in Nigeria, a trauma expert, Maji Peterx, has called on the federal government to establish more trauma therapy centers, open up listening clinics and recruit more therapists and counsellors to enable Nigerians have access to care and support.
Mr. Peterx made this call, in Makurdi, at a one-day Trauma Consciousnesses and Resilience Workshop organized by Carefronting Nigeria and Links Global in conjunction with Strides And Frontiers Nigeria Limited.
Mr. Peterx, who is the lead facilitator, urged Nigerians to be trauma aware and truama conscious saying the country is currently traumagenic following activities of bandits, kidnappers, militia gangs among many others as a result of which citizens are living in fear.
While he advised people to prioritise self care as a guide, he further advised that people must show concern for one another by being conscious of other persons mental state and conditions adding that citizens must learn to speak with therapist, counsellors or people around and above all create support structure with friends and families.
“Truama is real. The environment where we are is riddled with so much stress and a lot of people are truamatized without knowing it.
“The whole country is truamagenic.
There is no safety, there are issues of insecurity, fear factor, the siege mentality, everything that needs to make somebody feel traumatized is present. So we need to be aware of people’s mental awareness and mental illness.
“You see people manifesting symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders, PTSD, anxiety disorder, depression and we think they are okay.
“To help them, let us prioritize self care. Let us talk to people when we have to; therapists, counsellors and people around us. Let us create support structure for ourselves. It’s very important.
“On the part of government, they should realize we need more therapists, more counsellors. They should open up listening clinical and trauma therapy centers. Its very important for us to have access to such places in our schools and work places.
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“We shouldn’t think that people are just normal or just numbing. we should be able to create a space where people feel supported and helped.
Mr. Peterx also stated that when people are feeling traumatized, as friends and family, “we must look at what is making them traumatized, see if they are able to have disclosure, are there people they can talk to, are there people they are confident to talk to, do we take their case very serious, do we take their disclosures as being important, do we check on them, do we care to support them, do we just assume or do we engage with people. Those are the support structures that we need that help us to move forward.”
Welcoming participants earlier, on behalf of staff and management of Strides and Frontiers Nigeria Limited, Mr. Abel Augustine said “We often see Trauma boldly inscribed on the walls of hospitals and hear medics, therapists and counsellors say that individuals families, communities, accident victims, or in some extreme situations like what the world is confronted with in Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan and Palestine, are traumatized.
He said the workshop was organized to create awareness on Trauma and raise the consciousness of the people on its impact and how you get and give help to sufferers.
In the words of Mother Theresa, Mr. Augustine urged thus, “Do not be bothered by numbers, help one person at a time. Start with the closest persons to you.”
