Resilience and coping strategies are crucial for navigating mental health challenges. Adolescence and young adulthood bring various stressors that impact wellbeing, such as social media pressures, academic stress, economic challenges, and global crises. Equipping youth with skills to understand and maintain their mental health, and support their peers, is essential.
This World Youth Skills Day, we spotlight two global mental health organizations that support young people’s wellbeing through skills building. These innovative approaches from South Africa and Kenya highlight the importance of addressing mental health through engaging and supportive methods.
Foundation for Professional Development’s “StepWell Saga”: South Africa’s First Mobile Game on Youth Mental Health
Photo Credit: Foundation for Professional Development
In South Africa, 1 in 6 experience anxiety, depression, or substance-use issues. With almost half of the population under 25, mental health concerns are a serious issue for South African youth.
Through a seed investment from Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), funded by the Government of Canada, the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD) developed Africa’s first serious game for mental health to help young people cope with and navigate mental health challenges.
“The state of youth mental health in the country is devastating,” said FPD project lead Jean Slabbert. “Poverty, inequality, youth unemployment, adverse childhood events… the list of challenges that South African youth face just goes on and on. We need innovative ways to reach our young people and equip them with the skills they need to manage life’s difficulties and provide them with hope and encouragement.”
As a 2D side-scrolling mobile adventure game, the “StepWell Saga” takes its player on a journey to restore light to the kingdom of StepWell by solving puzzles, battling monsters, and working together with friends.
Photo Credit: Foundation for Professional Development
Designed, developed, and tested in collaboration with South African youth and mental health experts, the StepWell Saga seamlessly integrates and promotes mental health language based on Cognitive Behavioural and Interpersonal Therapies. Through storytelling and character dialogue, the mobile game aims to equip young players with problem-solving, strategy, and teamwork skills while promoting mental resilience and the crucial role of our relationships and peer support when dealing with everyday challenges. Combining mental health promotion and skill building into a fun digital game that reaches young people on their phones, the StepWell Saga is an innovative solution that helps improve young people’s mental health in South Africa.
“Though the game is developed for young people in South Africa, anyone with a comprehension of the English language anywhere can benefit from the game”, says Jean Slabbert.
Learn more about the StepWell Saga and download the game for free:
- iOS (Apple): https://bit.ly/4c2gaBv
- Android: https://bit.ly/Stepwellsaga
- Huawei: https://bit.ly/stepwellsagaHuawei
Mental360’s “Nakujali-Conversations Save Lives” Project: Equipping Youth Leaders as Mental Health Champions in Kenya’s Kiambu County
Photo Credit: Mental360
Kenya’s Kiambu County has the highest prevalence of youth suicide cases in the country. Driven by factors like stigma and a lack of mental health support, and with only 116 mental health professionals for a population of 50 million, suicide and mental health issues among young people in Kenya are pressing challenges.
Supported by a seed grant from GCC, Mental360’s Nakujali Project uses a peer-based approach to address the gaps in mental health support in Kenya’s Kiambu County. By training at-risk youth as Rafikis and equipping them with practical support skills to support the mental health of their peers in the community, the Nakujali project is helping prevent youth suicide in Kiambu County.
Watch the video below to learn more about the launch of the Nakujali Project.
Through specialized training and skills building, Rafikis act as mental health champions, leading mental health support groups and fostering resilience among other youth. They also help break down stigma in their communities by sharing their lived experiences and promoting mental health literacy through open conversations.
As financial distress and economic challenges are significant causes of mental health issues among youth in Kiambu County, Rafiki Youth Leaders can also build their entrepreneurial skills and access seed capital through the Nakujali project to further promote socio-economic empowerment among youth at risk of mental health challenges.
Rafikis participating in the Nakujali project share their experience in the video below!
By leveraging peer support and empowering youth with knowledge and leadership skills in mental health support and entrepreneurship, the Nakujali Project aims to reduce stigma, promote supportive environments, and help improve youth mental health in Kiambu County.
Learn more about Mental360’s Nakujali Project!
Photo Credit: Mental360
