Playback Nigeria (@PlaybackNigeria) wishes to invite members of the public, stakeholders in Mental and Public Health to the premiere performance of VOICES – a stage play on Mental Health written and directed by Oluwadamilola Apotieri-Abdulai (@damilola_a) on Friday 30th of October, 2015 at Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotels, Abuja. Time: 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 5pm.
There are many people in Nigeria experiencing mental problems. Mental health includes your emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It determines how you think, feel, and act. It also helps influence how you handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.
Community education on mental health is quite limited across the country. This has resulted in a situation wherein children and adults with mental problems are labelled ‘mad’ and treated solely as persons requiring psychiatric care. This has limited community care and support to such persons, who continue to be discriminated against, stigmatized and marginalized. For children, this situation also increases risks of abuse and exploitation.
‘Voices’ represents two dimensions with respect to advovacy on Mental Health – Psychosocial Support (MH-PSS). It signifies the need to bring to the forefront the voices of people experiencing mental problems, and those in their immediate social environment so that services are designed and delivered in a manner that is accessible and responsive to their needs. It also touches on an important and sometimes neglected area in mental health – ‘the hearing of voices’ by some people with schizophrenia, one of the many mental problems that confront our communities today. Hearing of voices is many times misunderstood and ignored, yet it provides an avenue for relating with and supporting such persons. Voices can be critical or they can be complementary and many people may be able to find ways to live with them. It’s difficult to explain what it is like to hear voices, particularly if you’ve never heard voices yourself.
Art/Drama/Theatre is an active tool for engagement and for raising awareness around Mental Health Issues such as hearing voice.
Playback Nigeria, an art-based organisation in Nigeria have created a theatre piece titled ‘Voices’, a theatre piece that creates awareness on mental health. The intention is to create awareness on the need to focus on the full range of MHPSS services needed to support persons with mental problems, and to engage with participants on how to support persons experiencing mental problems.
Partnerships to stage ‘Voices’
The staging of voices is being done through collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as part of a broader advocacy initiate of the MHPSS Reference Group.
Date: Friday, 30th October 2015
Venue: Ballroom 3, Ladi Kwali Conference Centre, Sheraton Hotel Abuja.
Attendance is FREE, Interested audience members must RSVP through http://www.playbacknigeria.com/book-a-seat/
Email: Office@playbacknigeria.com
Telephone: 08038288609
