Not Alone: Providing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support to Nigerians During COVID-19
By: Iom - Un Migration
Tags: Migration, Nigeria, Return, United Nations

In Nigeria, COVID-19 has posed great challenges to returnees. Among those worst affected are people with mental health and psychosocial needs.

Movement restrictions imposed by the Nigerian government have made assistance to returnees and their families particularly challenging. Due to these restrictions, returnees with psychological concerns face challenges in accessing dedicated mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services. Moreover, as economic activities came to a halt, caregivers observed symptoms of relapse and deterioration of their beneficiaries’ psychosocial wellbeing.

Under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration, a COVID-19 assessment was conducted via phone in the West and Central Africa region. In Nigeria, responses from over 100 returnees were collected in Edo and Delta States, and more than 90 per cent reported that their emotional wellbeing had deteriorated since the crisis began.

Since the start of the pandemic, false information in the media, and the polarization of COVID-19 issues have reinforced general sentiments of uncertainty and anxiety among returnees, exacerbating their existing psychosocial vulnerabilities.

Due to the lockdown, and the ensuing halt to economic activities, returnees may experience different levels of psychosocial distress which have an impact on their own wellbeing. Credit: Jorge Galindo / IOM

To promote psychosocial well-being in Nigeria’s migration hotspots, IOM provides, among other MHPSS activities, psychoeducation for returnees and caregivers and facilitate referrals for specialized mental health treatment for those with severe psychiatric conditions. Amid the new reality imposed by COVID-19, interventions have been adapted to host remote MHPSS working modalities.

These activities help returnees understand the negative and, at times, overwhelming psychological reactions that arising from the many stress factors they face during the migration journey or upon return.

In the past few months, IOM MHPSS teams organized virtual family support meetings and counseling to enable caregivers share experiences, draw support from each other and empower families to care for relatives during the lockdown.

Below are two stories from beneficiaries who, like millions worldwide, are learning to cope in these uncertain times while building their resilience towards recovery, one day at a time.

Adaeze

During the lockdown period, Adaeze*, the mother of a 22year-old returnee, feared for her family’s health and well-being. “Information about the virus was not very clear in the early days of the pandemic… I was still trying to understand fully how the virus could be contracted,” says Adaeze. While she knew she had to comply with the government’s disease prevention rules, she worried that her daughter would flout them.

“Libya has changed my daughter, she now gets very angry whenever she is advised not to go out, and I noticed that her hygiene has deteriorated so I was afraid she may contract the virus and bring it home.” These worries haunted Adaeze. She would have trouble sleeping, and at times would lash out at her daughter, forbidding her to go out.

On 5 June 2020, Adaeze, who lives with relatives in Benin City, the capital of Edo State, joined a family support virtual meeting organized by IOM. She was enlightened about the pandemic, the mode of transmission and the ways to prevent it.

After these sessions, Adaeze was also able to develop peer-to-peer support mechanisms and mutual psychosocial support. “In the family support meetings, I listen and learn from people’s experiences, before the meeting we chat and greet each other and ask about the people we are caring for, this makes me feel good. I also use the opportunity to voice my challenges while group members listen to me… You know that we cannot visit people to share our problems because of the lockdown so I share it with the group. And I feel better with the counseling I receive,” she says.

“Being a member of the family support group helped me through the days of full lockdown.” Currently Adaeze continues to be member of a WhatsApp group to help caregivers keep close ties with each other, foster experience sharing, reduce isolation and disseminate timely psychoeducation and counseling.

Bukola

Elijah* returned from Libya after an attempt to migrate to Europe. Upon return, the young man showed signs of distress and received specialized mental health care as part of his reintegration in Benin City. He was assisted to start a clothing business, but just as he was recovering, COVID-19 threatened to erode the progress he had made.

As he was taking on long-term psychiatric treatment, his business not only became a source of livelihood but also helped pay for medication and transportation to the hospital. His mother, Bukola*, realized that if his business went under, neither would be able to afford medication, resulting in Elijah’s relapse. “I was worried, my blood pressure kept rising with each announcement of an extension of the lockdown, I couldn’t go to church, I was all alone with my family problem,” she says.

As the situation worsened, Bukola was contacted by a family support group. “In the online meeting I heard other mothers and fathers talk about similar challenges. In the meeting I was able to enjoy good music, dance and play, these have been helpful to my own health.” She was glad to know that she was not alone.

Bukola’s fears never materialized. The lockdown in Edo State was lifted and businesses resumed shortly after. Her son adjusted to the new normal, became productive and showed renewed optimism once again. Bukola is actively making time for self-care, encouraged by the signs of improvement in her son’s psychosocial well-being and socio-economic prospects.

COVID-19 is still a real danger in Nigeria and beyond. But with proper support, people like Bukola and Adaeze recognize the importance of staying healthy to provide quality care for the people they love.

Approximately 70 per cent of migrants assisted by IOM to return voluntarily to Nigeria have been exposed to violence, exploitation and abuse along their journey. IOM integrated approach to reintegration include the psychosocial dimension and provide tailored support to the most vulnerable.

Credit: Jorge Galindo / IOM

Through July, 1,627 returnees in Nigeria have received post-arrival MHPSS assistance at the airport thanks to the EU-IOM Joint Initiative. IOM’s virtual family support meetings and counseling are funded by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, complementing IOM’s wider mental health and psychosocial support to returnees under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative.