Just a teenie meenie update: Business, Mental Health, Bootcamps.

Hey guys, a lot has been happening, but just haven’t been able to keep up and share. Today, I decided to make some time and share this as a sort of a little update on what I’m currently up to.

Today marked the starting of the Mental Health Bootcamp at HopIn Academy. I started filming after we came break from a break, so this is a very short clip. The bootcamps’s kick off was very fun and educative though as we had a very insightful lecture on Mental Health by Dr William Hill Koomson, Psychiatrist at Tamale Teaching Hospital(TTH) and Lecturer at University for Development Studies(UDS) School of Medicine.

The discussion with him covered everything from what Mental Health is, the difference between Mental Health and Mental Illness, causes of Mental Health illness or disorders, the stigma people with mental health disorders face , the need for mental health sensitization, challenges faced by the Mental Health/Psychiatric Workforce and some proposed solutions to battle the challenges.

Today’s discussion alone cleared a lot of misconceptions I had about some Mental Illness and Mental Health disorders that I originally thought I knew so much about. But It didn’t just clear some misconceptions I had, it changed my mind entirely on how I saw mental health disorders like schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and the likes. Traditional myths about mental health illnesses like common schizophrenia was also demystified and scientifically digested.

To be honest, I self-diagnosed myself for a lot of mental health illnesses for every new disorder we learnt during the discussion. Thankfully though, Doc kept reminding us that it was normal to experience some of these symptoms but that it is advised to seek professional advise if we felt like we were showing symptoms for periods longer than the usual.

So much was covered today that I can’t show you in just one post. The bootcamp will be happening over a week-span though, so hopefully I’ll keep posting updates to the very end. By Friday, we would’ve been put in groups where we’ll come up with business models surrounding the Mental Health Space and pitch to a board of judges. The winning team will be incubated as part of HopIn’s Business Incubation Project. I hope I’m able to share the entire journey with you guys here(at least most of it). We’ll see. Have a great week!