Lets Talk

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Mental illness or health disorders refer to wide range of mental health conditions that affect our mood, thinking and behaviour.

Mental health generally includes our emotional psychological and social well-being. Our ability to handle stress and relate to others borders on our mental health situations.
Mental health is important at every stage of life from childhood and adolescence through to adulthood.

Some diagnosable mental illnesses include clinical depression which is characterized by persistently depressed moods and loss of interest in one’s daily activities, bipolar disorders which are generally associated with episodes of mood swings from depressive lows to manic highs and schizophrenia. Consequently we have to pinpoint some important facts about mental illnesses.

Mental illnesses are as real as cancer, diabetes and other health diseases. Even though not everyone develops mental illnesses, anyone can develop it at a point in their life.

Persons living with mental health problems can recover well with treatment and support and they can be productive when given the opportunity. Mental illnesses make people miserable and they tend to react in so many different ways such as withdrawing entirely from family and friends and unusually neglecting their personal hygiene or even their responsibilities.
When people with mental illnesses relapse they have difficulty concentrating or following conversations, they might end up hearing voices that no one else can hear.

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The most advisable way to manage mental health illnesses is to seek professional help and support. However, other self-help strategies to adopt include becoming more physically active, being emotionally aware and positively reframing your mind.
People have very diverse views and opinions about mental illnesses while others are completely unaware of what mental illnesses entail.

A Media campaign to create awareness and emphasize on mental illnesses and how to deal with them will be a good initiative to undertake. Media reportage can help caution people on stigmatisation and discriminating against people living with mental illnesses and the threat it poses to their lives.

The media can also advocate for mental health policies in workplaces and fight for equal opportunities for people living with mental conditions, encourage the public to acquire knowledge about mental health.
Also, the media being the fourth estate of the realm has the power and right platform to rally the support of the government towards focusing on the country’s mental health system be it enhancing our mental institutions or even providing more human resource at our mental health institutions.

Mental health illnesses can affect a person’s ability to function and their everyday activities, however, time, reassurance and support is all that people battling with mental illnesses may need to recover.

This feature was originally published in the SUPREME NEWSPAPER.

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Let’s imagine the world without friends. A world where nobody knows nobody except family. Someone would say we would be better off without friends. But guess what , you probably made the wrong friends.

We have met a lot of people from Churches, events and in school. School is where we have made the most friends. These are people we may have played with, shared items with or even disagreed with on issues. Some of this memories will live with us forever.

Change is bound to happen, and as friends you might drift apart. That is okay, it does not turn you into enemies. As you experience change, so does your friends. Your friendship with friends might suffer changes too as time goes on.

This changes can make you disagree on issues you formerly supported your friends on, and you are absolutely not untrammeled. Like they said, “opinions are like noses and everyone has one”. If you experience change, you are not culpable to disdain and so are your friends.

Apportioning blame once the vibe between you and your friends diminishes doesn’t make you a better person, you may be a contributor to the problem. Friends look out for each other and push each other. Try getting positively jealous of your friend and marvel at the level of growth you’ll experience. This means friends help you improve yourself and they are necessary to keep.

Treat friends as family instead of outsiders. Be a good friend and your friends will be delighted to meet you after years of losing contact. Let’s go down memory lane.

Quiet recently, a lady slide into my dm and introduced herself as my friend from basic school. I had obviously forgotten her and so I told her I do not recall anyone like that. She then showed me pictures of herself and I still did not recognize her. She was very persistent that we were friends and I did not understand why. So she called me and the first thing she said was ” if I was near you, I would have knocked you to jog your memory “. I found this funny and could not fathom how I had forgotten her because this was somebody I walked with to school everyday. It took one tiny detail about our friendship back then for me to remember her. This was someone I parted ways with nine years ago at a young age when we did not have cell phones. And if you were like me who changed schools often, then this is bound to happen. We have reconciled and are very good friends. Long story short……….

Be someone your friends will be eager to get back into contact with even after decades. Remember these are people who will be around to support you as you move on in life, build strong ties, treat each other as family and LIVE LIFE.

A mixed feeling it was when I heard the part of the president’s last broadcast ordering final year students to return to school in the next two weeks to finalize their studies and write examinations so that they can put an end to that phase of their lives. Within me I was happy to get back to my studies in full gear but the thought of doing so in the midst of a global pandemic made me feel uneasy as I began to think about the new normal. Across the hall, I scanned around to see the expression on my sister’s face which was obviously more of delight and far from sadness.
Quite unsurprising was my mother who gave me a stern look when our eyes met, she could not fathom how some section of students were being asked to go to school even as the number of reported cases of the novel corona virus was fast racing to the 10,000 mark in the country. I made an outright decision to leave before the actual resumption to avoid the crowds at the bus stations which usually occasioned the return of students to school.
Her main source of worry was that I was going to be mistaken at a point in time for having contracted the virus as I always began to sneeze anytime I encountered dust or a foul smell. To allay her fears I sought out to actually improve my own personal hygiene and avoided anywhere there was dust especially. Over the course of the period I took all my drugs on schedule, a mix of orthodox and traditional.
As the day for my departure edged closer, my parents sought out to procure some sanitizers and nose masks for me as has been championed on all forms of media about the importance of possessing and using this items even as we try to contain the virus. The sanitizers were bought however, my mother opted to sew the nose masks herself. She opted to sew, firstly because the local business people taking into cognizance the “window of opportunity” from my entrepreneurship course have decided to sell the surgical masks at a very exorbitant price which knowing the amount it sold in normal times and knowing the total amount to be spent on it made be a bit angry. Secondly, her workplace had resorted to a shift system due to the disease outbreak so she was free from work then she thought why not make use of the sewing machine which was wasting away anyway.
On the day of my departure, I was made to bath hot water which I have not done in a very long time. There after I had to drink some tea which does not usually happen whenever I was going to travel, but just so I can take my medication. The norm of praying for me anytime I was about to travel followed shortly afterwards.
Thereafter, I received the usual admonishments from my dad whenever I was leaving home as he drove me to the bus station. As we approached town he beckoned to me to put on my mask, as a joint military and police operation had started enforcing the compulsory wearing of masks at the beginning of the week. I arrived at the bus station but then it took longer than usual for the bus to be full though the drivers had cut down their capacity in order to ensure social distancing, one of the protocols for preventing the spread of the virus.
What made my entire journey quite frightening was that, my travel is in two folds, as I had to transit in the nation’s capital then to my final destination. Not forgetting the fact that, the region in which the capital is located has the highest number of reported cases.

The journey to Accra was quite smooth but for the usual stops at Asikuma Immigration Checkpoint where this time around our temperatures were checked rather than the habitual checking of nationality of passengers and the police stops and inspections which took longer than the usual in a bid to ensure compliance with safety protocols. As we journeyed I realized that activities in most communities seemed to be going on as normal as they have always been as most safety protocols were simply being ignored or not being adhered to. It was only in the busier towns that I saw some sections of people wearing nose masks, most of which were the locally made ones. Worth mentioning was the fact that most traders no matter what their trades were, had actually added the selling of nose masks to their wares. Hawkers shouted and brought forth nose masks close to vehicles in a bid to sell to anyone who was in need of one. These nose masks had all sorts of inscriptions on them ranging from, names of football clubs, banks, companies, musicians to even international sportswear brands like Adidas and Nike which were mere imitations. The masks served their purpose anyway.
The usual traffic jam that welcomed passengers to Accra was ever present which always certainly was responded to with a lot of chuckles and griming of impatient people very eager to reach their destinations.
At long last, I was done with the first hurdle. I had faired quite well as I had not sneezed or coughed though I had a mask on throughout the journey. I had to take another vehicle to the bus station where I would board a vehicle to Cape Coast. Shortly after boarding a car en route to the station, a man in his mid-thirties gestured to board the car. Rather surprisingly, he opted to sit a bit close to me, though I registered my displeasure and prompted him to take any of the empty available seats behind me, he angrily said he was going to get down at the next stop so I should not bother him. I therefore decided to shift a bit from him though it was not up to the 1m distance.
Nothing much seemed to have changed in the capital physically, but for the ravages of the annual rainfall which always puts our beloved Accra in the spotlight for a brief period. As we drove towards the Kwame Nkrumah Circle I chanced upon some people trying to remove all sorts of waste materials that have choked the gutters and I wondered to myself, “when are we ever to have a behavioral and attitudinal change ?“. Going past a cemetery after the Nkrumah Circle, I remembered the news item on radio earlier in the week about a burial ceremony conducted by city authorities for some lives lost as a result of the pandemic. I began to imagine the scene, the wailing and mourning of the bereaved families even as they registered their displeasure for the presence of media personnel who finally had to flee for their lives. I found some solace in humming a few lines of “Till we meet again” which was sang at such occasions.
As I boarded the bus meant to transport me to my final destination and waited for it to get full, the clouds began to gather. As we began to move out of the city, the drizzling started.

It was not long after then the rains came in full force, and the small gutters full beyond their capacity gave way to the water to flow freely across the road. The usual lamentations of citizens against poor leadership, indiscipline and improper execution of projects had erupted in the bus between the older folks to which I listened attentively. This was cut short by the protests of the pregnant lady behind me, who was asking the driver to exercise some patience and slow down a bit due to her condition. I asked myself, “How many would-be mothers must have lost their babies as a result of some reckless driving?” Finally she switched places with a young man in the seat in front of me, and she slid into a deep sleep afterwards.
Thereafter I switched between some gospel tunes and music from Lamisi who I think a lot of people haven’t heard about yet or aren’t paying attention to because of her style and language. I didn’t understand most of the songs myself though but for the few in English. I just liked the rhythms and originality.
After sometime I switched off the music and decided to read “Purple Hibiscus” the last in the series of books I had obtained while at home written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, doing so quite slowly as against my usual fast-reader self.
I stopped reading only after we had gone past the last town before my final destination. I carefully adjusted my nose mask one more time, used the sanitizer once again and looked forward to the car finally pulling over. It wasn’t long after then, on getting down from the bus I took a taxi and headed straight to campus.

On arrival in my room, I said a thanksgiving prayer and set about cleaning my room. I tuned on the radio on my phone to listen to the news, rather a an discussion was going on between students about how they felt about going to school, if the studying done at home was effective and a whole lot more. Now I look forward to meeting my colleagues again, studying together and all the pressure that came with it and finishing strong even in the midst of a contagion.

Many of the things we take for granted slowly destroys us. Smoking Shisha is one of them. It poses a lot of health hazards to our body than we are aware of.

Do you know that an hour session of smoking Shisha can be same as smoking 100 or more cigarettes? This means that you are at a risk of getting health problems such as cancer and heart disease.

Shisha contains an addictive ingredient called nicotine and is coupled with bad breath.

However, smoking shisha is a fun social activity which helps to release stress.

Tobacco free shisha contains herbs instead of pure tobacco. It contains fruity parts with glycerin to achieve a tasteful vapor smoke.

Herbal Shisha, comes from the finest traditional herbs and does not contain nicotine, this means herbal shisha is not addictive. It contains ingredients such as sugar cane fiber and tea leaves.

According to a few people, herbal shisha is not a full health solution but it works for them.

But in all honesty, the negative effects of shisha ,whether herbal shisha or shisha made from tobacco ,outweighs the positive effects shisha smoking has on the body…The choice is yours to make.

Many of the things we take for granted slowly destroys us, Smoking Shisha is an example. Even though it is flavoured, it does not change the health hazards it poses to us.

It still has the same bad effects on our body just as it does when its in the form of tobacco being smoked from a pipe.

Shisha originates from the middle east. In our part of the world, where the ozone layer is depleted and the air is polluted, the possibility of contracting respiratory diseases is so high you might never want to breath if you knew the risk we are at.

Do you know that an hour session of smoking Shisha can be same as smoking 100 or more cigarettes? This means that you are at a risk of getting health problems such as cancer and heart disease.

Do not follow a group of friends to smoke Shisha just because you want to be accepted by them. Know your worth.

Above all, Shisha is addictive. Why would you want to do that to yourself. If you are not aware that Shisha ruins your skin? Well you’ve just been informed.

Be very much aware that not everything given you, or available to you is actually good for you.

While some people are aware of the dangers in smoking Shisha ,a chunk of people are still not convinced about the risks involved in smoking Shisha.

We need to decrease the positive attitudes about Shisha use. There is nothing awesome about it,unless you are in a hurry to die… STAY AWAY FROM SHISHA.

Sharing information to an audience can be a form of networking, don’t you think? Some say its a socio economic business activity where people recognize ,create or share information.

Then there’s approaches to networking…

Genuinely interact with the person you are speaking with and do not forget,body language and tone are a gateway to fruitful and successful interaction.

Think about how you would like to be perceived and approach people with that in mind. Take time to listen to the people you are interacting with. Also, find a common interest and relate with to create an interpersonal networking style to make your interaction normal and not faked or forced.

Volunteering is also an effective way to network. Most of us see volunteering as a wasted effort. Far from it,volunteering opens up opportunities, it helps to make new contacts and form profitable relationships.

Staying in touch is a good way of networking. Checking up on someone occasionally keeps your relationship with people intact. Networking does not have to be entirely formal. It can start with your circle of friends or someone you know, with this, you are laying the groundwork for a professional relationship.

Having some good professional contacts can give you access to other expertise, open doors,and even help you land your dream job in your field or other fields.

All in all, even after fall outs,make conscious efforts to rebuild relationships, acknowledge the gap in communication and make the people know you would like to reconnect, this makes way for effective networking.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton