By: Thabelang Moetsana
Mental health is an alarming crisis in humans lately, Ikaneng Mapuru took a brave step into a victorious battle and, helped people survive and restore their mental health. She has formed a non-profit making organization called Mental Health Warriors. The organization aims to treat and prevent mental disorders. It was founded on February 28 this year. Apart from helping to deal with lots of different issues of mental health, it also provides rehabilitation.
In an interview with Ikaneng Mapuru, she tells Finite Magazine what inspired her to start a mental health organization is her own personal experiences with mental illness and the high suicidal rate in Lesotho. She admits that one other motivation for this initiative is her anxiety, which is at its highest when around people.
“The whole idea started after Ricky Rick’s death. His death shook me and also motivated me to start raising awareness about mental health. I wanted to do something about it, not just for me but for people who deal with such deep issues.
We aim to encourage the application of mental health knowledge in general health care and social development. We want people to talk about mental health at their jobs and in schools. Everybody should know about the different types of mental illnesses, their signs, and how to treat them. We want to promote community participation in mental health services development and disseminate efforts towards self-help in the community. I wanted to create a safe heaven for everybody to come together and talk about the things they deal with,” highlights Mapuru.
The 18-year-old founder continued to say they want to instill knowledge to people of all ages, particularly young people – for them to accept and understand that it’s okay to have any kind of mental disorder and, that it’s not the end of the world. She says if people know about different types of mental illnesses, “they’ll know how to handle them, they’ll understand that it’s okay to ask for help.”
She goes on to explain that there can be few signs of someone who has clinical depression. The signs can include fatigue, low self-esteem, not feeling worthy enough to be around friends, and some people can’t even do their daily chores.
“We just want to ensure that there is easy access and availability of mental health care for all people, even for the most vulnerable underprivileged sections of the population. We want mental health services to be available to everybody regardless of their location. The organization also aims to promote the application of the mental health principles in development to improve the quality of life,” states Mapuru.
Although every organization uses the money to work on daily basics, Mapuru mentioned that they raise funds through community activities. Sometimes someone’s depression is caused by a lack of finances so these funds are used to pay fees or whatever debt they may have especially if it contributes to their mental condition – for example, if someone doesn’t have food at home, this organization uses its funds to provide food for such families. They step in and try to solve issues that arise owing to unhealthy mental conditions. This is because Mapuru’s organization believes this could have a huge positive impact on such a person’s mental health. Mapuru wishes to see her organization as big as ever in the future and cater to everyone in the country, at large. She wants it to change the lives of people and reduce the currently high suicidal rate in Lesotho.