Henry Okonkwo
Mrs. Salem Ogunlowo’s calm disposition belies her resilient nature, and the many hats she wears. With academic certifications in Law, and Food Management, she went on further to study Integrated Counseling up to Masters Level at the University of Northampton, Britain. Hence, career-wise, Mrs. Ogunlowo is a mental health psychotherapist, pre-marital and post-marital counselor.
With her array of skills and talents, Mrs. Ogunlowo’s biggest desire is to see a raised awareness to issues of Mental Health in the country.
In this interview Daily Sun, she stated that the growing incidents of suicide and sudden insanity in the country are pointers that exposes dearth of mental health experts. She further lamented that emotions like depression, grief, phobias are like ticking time-bombs to psychological debilitation, but are sadly trivialized by people because of the gross ignorance in Nigeria.
What is the Integrated Counseling all about?
Integrated Counseling is a course that makes you as a counselor, to believe that you can’t use just one model to treat a client. It makes you realize that treatment of mental challenges is not a one size fits all. So when someone comes with anger issues, you can’t use the humanistic or existential model to train such a person. So you have to look at the model that suits the issues.
Was there any personal experience that made you go into this as a career?
Providence has a way of pulling you into finding your path. That was what happened to me. From childhood, I’ve always been drawn to people that marginalized and discriminated against. So growing up on the streets of Warri, when I about seven years old, there was one mad woman called –Nyemego (which Igbo means ‘Give me money’). Whenever she approaches people, she keeps saying Nyemego, Nyemego. So people started calling her that. Whenever she comes, people run away from her. But as child, I was drawn towards her because her situation and so sometimes, I give her clothes.
Then another incident happened when I grew older and was staying at Benin with my parents. I was only 14 years, and I was very close to my paternal aunt because she exhibited special interest in me. So we became very fond of each other. During my secondary school break, I’ll always want to go and visit her. Then suddenly she became sick and as at that time we didn’t know what was wrong with her. She became withdrawn, started hallucinating, mopping at people and when I went looking for her, I’ll see her hiding under the bed. We didn’t know what to do because we’re worried at the stigma that could be attracted to our family if people hear of the situation. We couldn’t even take her to the hospital because people may notice it. I was worried but curious at what could be wrong with her. My aunt was a very beautiful woman. I called her ‘beautiful mother’, she doesn’t have any biological child of own, so I also saw her as my own mother. Eventually she died, undiagnosed.
She died when they took her to the village and started applying all kinds of medicine. The native healer there claimed she’s suffering a boomerang of a crime she committed. Thus, they kept pressuring her to confess. At a time, her situation worsened and she was chained. So I guess they woke up one day to find her dead. That was one incident that stayed with me because I loved her deeply.
These incidents and many others kept ringing in my head. So after my first degree, I became a fulltime house wife, taking care of my children and doing some petty trading by the side. Then as the children grew older and all left to study abroad, I found out that I didn’t have much to do anymore. So the quest to investigate these incidents came up in my head once again. I then seized that opportunity to travel out to study Psychotherapy in 2016. I was there for a while doing my clinical practice till I came back in 2017.
What is it like building a career in psychotherapy in a challenging environment like Nigeria?
When I was training in Britain, we had a class that dealt with suicide. We were shared into groups to discuss how to deal with suicidal client. And in my group, I kept boosting saying excitedly that suicide is rare in my country. Over there in the western world they see themselves as the owners of their lives, so when they choose to take it, they go ahead and take it via suicide. So I bragged that we Nigerians love life, and would prefer smiling even when we’re suffering. And that we are a religious nation that abhors taking their lives via suicide.
But bare a week I came back to Nigeria there was three suicide incidents. I was rudely shocked when I saw it on the news. One of the incidents was where a doctor committed suicide by jumping into the third mainland. That was one incident that was too much for me to interpret. How can a doctor that was supposed to save lives, taking his own life? I asked questions and began investigating it. Then I met with one of the doctor’s friend who disclosed to me that the late doctor had issues. But neither he nor anyone knows who he can confine in to save him from the mental trauma he was passing through. That was when I knew that the mental health situation of this country is something that should be addressed. I found out that the lack of awareness on mental health issues is huge. Wherein people don’t know that even the anger they carry within themselves are mental health issues if it’s not well channeled can cause psychological illnesses. That prompted me to start writing a book on mental health, to serve as guide, and educate people.
In the UK where I trained, the structure is there in place. They referred clients to us from their hospitals. When their doctors after assessing a patient, and find out that the person’s condition is not a medical case, and they refer such clients to us- the psychotherapists, and we take them on different sessions. And they become fine. So I came into Nigeria, I tried to partner with some of these establishments, but all I met where brick walls, because there was no structure in place for patients battling mental health issues.
What are we not getting right? Is it lack of awareness or the dearth of trained experts to handle mental health issues in the country?
It is both. The awareness is not there. And creating awareness must start from the grassroots. Children at primary schools should be taught about mental health and psychological well being, so that as they grow, they’ll know what to do whenever they are faced with the situation. Even at homes, parents should also be involved in teaching their children about psychological wellness.
Then, on the professional aspect, I’ve noticed that most mental health scholars that have studied courses like psychotherapy, psychology, counseling and other related courses that have to do with human dynamics, do not go on to practice it after they graduate. Most of them opt to go find work at the banks, or go into trading. So here what we have are psychiatrists. But psychiatrists are medical doctors. They are not a like psychotherapist who listen and treats the issues and not the symptoms. You find out that people with psychological challenges go to psychiatry hospital. And because doctors have not been trained to access psychological issues, they are quick to prescribe medication. And once the medication wears off, the issues resurfaces because and continues to torment the patient, it is not been dealt with. Imagine a widow that is grieving her loss. She becomes depressed and confused at the thought of losing a breadwinner, and suffering severe emotional pain. That woman just wants a listening ear to voice out her pent up anger and frustration. Although she may suffer resultant physical symptoms like headache, nausea triggered by the sleepless nights she experiences. That doesn’t mean that the woman is battling a physical illness. She needs a psychotherapist to diagnose, assess and listened to, and that is where we come in.
Most often, when people face depression or low morale, they prefer going to their pastors or any other spiritual leader. What do you make of this?
That is another issue. It is saddening because religion has messed us up in this part of the world. You see cases like this every day. Most pastors are not trained to handle issues like this. Although I understand as human, we have spiritual needs and guidance in life, but I strongly advice that when it comes to psychological issues, clerics should not be involved, rather it be left to those who are trained to handle it.