Organization for Mental Health Promotion Inc

13/10/2026

INVISIBLE TO INVALUABLE: THE HOLISTIC NURSE
Embracing Addiction Care in Every Setting

Nurses are more than caregivers—they are advocates, educators, leaders, and agents of change who make a lasting difference in the lives of individuals, families, and communities.

Despite their vital contributions to healthcare, the value of nursing is often underrecognized. Nurses are at the forefront of prevention, treatment, recovery, and health promotion, including mental health and substance use disorder care.

Holistic nursing reminds us to care for the whole person—not just the illness. This means listening without judgment, treating every individual with dignity and respect, challenging stigma, and recognizing that addiction is a treatable health condition.

Nurses also play a critical role in shaping health policies, strengthening healthcare systems, promoting health equity, and advocating for people whose voices are often unheard.

It is time to move from seeing nursing as an invisible service to recognizing it as an invaluable force for healing, leadership, and global health transformation.

When we invest in nurses, we invest in healthier people, stronger communities, and a healthier world.

11/10/2026

My Personal Story: Remembering Simeon on World Mental Health Day 2026

I had a cousin named Simeon who lived with epilepsy. Due to a lack of knowledge and understanding, he experienced stigma, discrimination, and social isolation.

Learning about mental health became a game changer for him and our family. I took the opportunity to educate family members, help them understand his condition, and provide the support he needed. For a while, things improved, and Simeon remained stable on medication for about four years. Sadly, he later lost access to his medication and died during a sudden health crisis at the age of 21.

Today, I still carry the memories of Simeon in my heart. He was lively, humorous, easygoing, and full of life. His short time with us left a lasting mark on our family and continues to inspire my commitment to mental health advocacy in Liberia.

Reflecting on his life strengthens my determination to keep pushing for change until mental health receives the attention, understanding, and support it deserves in our country.

As a caregiver, I, too, have a voice that deserves to be heard. Caregivers have real stories, real struggles, and valuable lessons from lived experience that must be included in mental health discussions, policies, and decisions.

Simeon's story reminds me that knowledge saves lives, access to care matters, and no one should suffer because of stigma or lack of support.

This World Mental Health Day 2026, let us listen to caregivers, support families, challenge stigma, and work together to build a society where everyone can access the mental health care they need.

Happy World Mental Health Day 2026!

In memory of Simeon, and for every family whose story deserves to be heard.

Ministry of Health, Republic of Liberia
Embassy of Sweden in Monrovia
World Health Organization (WHO)
Africa CDC
USAID Global Health
Amanda YG N
U.S. Embassy Monrovia, Liberia
CDC

09/10/2026

World Mental Health Day Advocacy Message

WHY MENTAL HEALTH CLINICIANS IN LIBERIA ARE SPECIALISTS

Colleagues, leaders, and partners,

There is a question some still ask: _Are Mental Health Clinicians really specialists?

My answer is YES — and the law says so.

According to WHO and global standards, a health worker becomes a specialist not by title, but by five pillars:

One: Formal Advanced Education.
Our Mental Health Clinicians did not learn on the roadside. They completed basic nursing, physician assistant or Midwifery training, then completed an additional 6 months formal postgraduate training in psychiatry Mental Health — with Carter Center / MoH-accredited programs.

Two: Core Competency Mastery.
They master what others don't — psychopharmacology, DSM-5 diagnosis, crisis intervention, counseling, management of severe psychosis, epilepsy, addiction, trauma, and SGBV. This is not general nursing. This is specialized science.

Three: Task-Specific Precision.
A general nurse cannot manage acute psychosis, suicidal crisis, or Kush-induced psychosis alone. A Mental Health Clinician is capable of— assessing, diagnosing, prescribing psychotropics, and providing psychotherapy. That precision is specialization.

Four: Institutional & Legal Credentialing.
And this is the most important — our Mental Health Clinicians are licensed by the Liberia Board for Nursing and Midwifery (LBNM) — an accredited, legal regulatory body of the Republic of Liberia. LBNM recognizes their scope, issues their license, and holds them accountable. When a Board licenses you, you are no longer a generalist. You are a specialist cadre.

Five: Lifelong Learning.
They do continuous professional development, supervision, and re-licensing — just like surgeons and pediatricians.

So let us stop this debate.

If a person does advanced training, passes competency, and is licensed by an accredited Board to practice a focused discipline — that person is a SPECIALIST.

In Liberia, with only less than 1 psychiatrists for 5 million people in the past, it is our Mental Health Clinicians who have carried this country. The development of the mental health profession in recent years is so welcoming but we cannot downplay the Mental Health Clinicians importance in Liberia as specialists.

Let us respect them, pay them as specialists, deploy them as specialists, and include them in policy as specialists.

Thank you.

_Aaron Fansieh-Debah.
_Advocating for Mental Health Workforce Recognition — World Mental Health Week 2026

World Health Organization (WHO)
Ministry of Health, Republic of Liberia
Embassy of Sweden in Monrovia
Africa CDC
U.S. Embassy Monrovia, Liberia
USAID Global Health
CDC
Amanda YG N
The Carter Center
U.S. Mission Nigeria

09/10/2026

08/10/2026

We join the national and say mental health is a priority and is a major component of health!

04/10/2026

Hour of Mental Health RADIO PRODUCTION AT RKFM 94.5 MHz in Ganta.

04/10/2026

October 4, 2026

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY: FROM A GLOBAL VISION TO LOCAL ACTION

The Organization For Mental Health Promotion (OMEHPRO), joins the World in commencing the World Mental Health Day week. A narrative by Aaron Fansieh-Debah, the Lead Advocate, the OMEHPRO Movement.

World Mental Health Day is observed every year on October 10. The Day was first observed in 1992 through the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, with Richard “Dick” Hunter, then Deputy Secretary-General of the Federation, playing a leading role in establishing the observance.

The original vision was clear: mental health is a concern shared by people everywhere, regardless of country, culture, political system or socioeconomic status. The movement sought to increase public understanding, strengthen mental-health advocacy and promote parity between mental health and physical health in national priorities and services.

In its early years, World Mental Health Day used global communication and public education to bring mental health to the attention of governments, organizations and communities. In 1994, the first specific annual theme was introduced: “Improving the Quality of Mental Health Services Throughout the World.” Since then, the themes have addressed important issues including youth mental health, women and children, human rights, ageing, mental health and work, trauma, su***de prevention, dignity, investment, universal rights, humanitarian emergencies and community care.

In 2026, the global theme is “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change.” The theme calls on the world to move beyond simply listening to people who have experienced mental-health challenges and to meaningfully involve them in shaping policies, services and decisions that affect their lives.

Liberia is part of this global mental-health movement. In 2012, the Organization for Mental Health Promotion (OMEHPRO) began its Hour of Mental Health advocacy initiative, creating opportunities for communities to talk about mental health, challenge stigma and promote healthier communities. OMEHPRO was formally founded in 2014 and has continued its work in mental-health promotion, stigma reduction, substance-use prevention, community engagement, youth empowerment and access to appropriate support.

As OMEHPRO joins the global community in observing World Mental Health Day 2026, the organization recognizes that meaningful mental-health advocacy must include the voices of those directly affected. People with lived experience, families, caregivers, young people, health workers and communities all have valuable knowledge that can help improve mental-health services and strengthen Liberia's response.

The journey from 1992 to 2026 reminds us that mental health advocacy has evolved from raising awareness to demanding participation, dignity, rights and meaningful change.
The message for 2026 is therefore simple:
“Listen to our voices. Value our experiences. Create real change.”

Mental health is everyone's concern. Every voice matters. Every experience can teach us something. And meaningful change becomes possible when people are not only heard, but included in creating the solutions.

World Health Organization (WHO)
U.S. Embassy Monrovia, Liberia
Embassy of Sweden in Monrovia
USAID Global Health
Ministry of Health, Republic of Liberia
Africa CDC
Amanda YG N
Amb Michael NA AA-Therapist
U.S. Mission Nigeria

02/10/2026

A Poem by Aaron Fansieh-Debah
October 2, 2026

Title: I WILL NOT STOP

They call them mad on the streets of Monrovia,
They call them lost in the ghettos of Ganta,
But I see my brothers,
I see my sisters,
I see a mind that needs healing, not hiding.

I started with nothing in 2014,
Just a voice, just a vision,
They said "mental health is not for Liberia."
But I knew - there is no Liberia without mental health.

I am tired, yes.
The funds are small,
The stigma is big,
The trauma is deep from war to Ebola.

But I remember the boy who stopped taking drugs because we listened,
I remember the mother who smiled again because we talked,
One life saved is enough reason to continue.

So I will walk again tomorrow,
Into the schools, the churches, the communities,
With my OMEHPRO banner,
Even if my shoes are worn,
Even if my voice shakes.

Because until every Liberian knows:
That it is okay not to be okay,
That help exists,
That hope exists -

I will not stop.

This is not just a movement,
It is a mission.
And missions don't die until lives are saved.

Keep pushing, Founder.
Liberia needs your mind, to heal its mind.

World Health Organization (WHO)
Embassy of Sweden in Monrovia
Africa CDC
CDC
U.S. Embassy Monrovia, Liberia
USAID Global Health
U.S. Mission Nigeria

01/10/2026

I keep learning, one fine day...

26/09/2026

September 26, 2026

WHY OMEHPRO MUST BE SUPPORTED - A LEADING VOICE FOR MENTAL HEALTH IN LIBERIA

I stand here today not just as a person, but as a voice for thousands of Liberians suffering in silence.

Liberia survived civil war. We survived Ebola. We survived COVID-19. But many Liberians did not survive the wounds you cannot see - the trauma, the depression, the anxiety, the addiction that followed.

Our country has less than 1 psychiatrist for nearly every 100,000 people. Our clinics limited or lack medicine. And stigma still tells our people that mental illness is a curse.

This is why the Organization for Mental Health Promotion (OMEHPRO) must be supported.

Since 2014 from Ganta to Monrovia, OMEHPRO has done what many could not:

We go to the communities.
We talk to the churches, the mosques, the schools, the ghettos.
We tell the youth: Drugs is not the way.
We tell the mother: It is okay to not be okay.
We tell Liberia: Mental health is health.

We are not just an organization. We are a leading grassroots movement for mental health advocacy, awareness and education in Liberia. We are filling the gap where the system cannot reach.

But we cannot do it alone.

We need your support - the Government, partners, donors, and every Liberian - to build community resource centers, train more advocates, and reach the most vulnerable in every county.

Supporting OMEHPRO is not charity. It is investing in a healthier, more peaceful, and more productive Liberia.

Because there is no health without mental health, and there is no Liberia without healthy minds.

Please stand with OMEHPRO today. You can contact us by; [email protected]