About Us
The team behind Gambia Mental Health Week
Amran Gaye
Founder
Passionate mental health advocate dedicated to breaking stigma and improving access to mental health resources in The Gambia.
Abdoulie Mam Njie
Chief Advisor
A well known individual in The Gambia's health sector with years of dedication to improving care systems across The Gambia, bringing valuable insights from both public health initiatives and community-based approaches.
Jorr Jaiteh
Host
Community leader focused on creating safe spaces for dialogue and education around mental health issues.
Rabiatou Ceesay
Host
Dedicated Mental health first aider & educator, committed to raising awareness and fostering understanding across Gambian communities.
Our Mission
We are a group of Gambians who are passionate about mental health care. After sharing our own stories on various platforms and receiving overwhelming support, we firmly believe that most Gambians would be more supportive and understanding if they only get educated on the issues. Yiirmaandeh is one of our society's merits.
Our Purpose
For International Mental Health Week, we want to send the message that mental illness is not something to be stigmatized. That it's OK to seek help. That if our loved ones suffer, we know how to be there for them without causing further harm. That we stop calling them "doff" as an insult, because no one should be demeaned and blamed for something not under their control.
In addition, apart from mental illness, we will also be covering neurodivergence, which are not illnesses but just a different way of seeing the world. In Gambia we tend to lump everything together.
Our Approach
Every day for the week and a half, we focus on one topic (for example post-partum depression), and post information and videos about it, as well as testimonials. We put up a post and then have a discussion in the comments, for anyone who has any questions or comments. We also have videos in all our native languages, so English isn't a barrier to understanding these very important issues.
Get Involved
In order to reach as many people as possible we need the message amplified, resounding through all Gambian WhatsApp, social media, etc. So share as widely as possible. We will be posting different graphics so you can pick whichever you like best.
Tell your friends about this. Invite them to the page. Contact us if you want to participate in any way, whether it's through donations, volunteering your time, or collaborating with us. This is a completely volunteer run project.