Assuming over 200 million Nigerians suddenly needed access to psychiatrists at the same time, there won’t be enough to go around in their country. Getting one is quite limited and somewhat a luxury, which is why the presence of a newly developed application is being pitched as what could bridge the wide gap that has got people dealing with problems all by themselves.

The response to this lack of large-scale penetration of psychiatric help is still not happening locally. It is being initiated via mental health advocacy happening over there in the United Kingdom by an expert Tsitsi Natasha, who just launched Athari.

Aprokonation, if you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, you’re not alone! Join @athariapp and talk to a therapist today, from the comfort of your home. Your mental health matters! pic.twitter.com/nlh2cdVZiy

— Dr. Chinonso Egemba (@aproko_doctor) September 7, 2024

Breaking down the functions of the Athari app in a ThisDayLive interview, the innovator said users can choose any time of the day to schedule their appointment, depending on the doctor’s availability.

In addition, she adds: We understand therapy can be daunting, especially for first-time users, so there’s a feature where the patient can hide their face. Prefer to speak to someone in your own language? No problem. We have doctors from the north, east and south.

Athari is particularly useful in instances where seeing a psychiatrist could seem like a strenuous day job because catching one early enough would not have been easy. With this time lag, the mental health problems then get out of control and start to drive the victim to have terrible suicidal thoughts, which is such a high likelihood in Nigeria.

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Getting patients away from this pointy edge is the main objective of building Athari. All that is expected of the users is to make themselves open with us because this will ensure they get the best possible treatment in the absence of a therapist being physically present.

There is an Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria but they are limited with less than 250 of them available in the country. It is then believed that Athari will seal the obvious vacuum that exists between psychiatrists and patients.

Inspiration to create the app came from the inventor dealing with personal mental disorder issues herself. Help for her came from the United Kingdom, which is why it was a no-brainer that she had to start an outreach from there.

Users should not leave it until they are struggling with psychiatric issues before they get on Athari because it is available at the pre-onset stages when they are not thinking they need to see a mental health expert. It is part of the inclusivity, which the creator felt needed to be added to make the innovation effective.

To navigate the user-friendly interface after they have downloaded it onto their devices, beneficiaries will be asked to input their relevant information and subsequently, the app matches them with a psychiatrist who will assist them according to their special requirements.

Athari is notable for focusing on various areas of expertise, including some from mental health experts who have built the skills to handle patients dealing with alcohol abuse and so forth. Nigeria is only the starting point for where a list of expertise will be applied as there is a plan to spread to South Africa and then Ethiopia, according to the developer’s vision.

One Human Resources Consultant Abi Osikoya-Yusef, whose onboarding techniques brought some experts to Athari, analysed that Nigerians are not vocal when it comes to mental health issues which makes a medium that guarantees their anonymity ideal for such a demography.

Everybody generally keeps quiet and tries to mask it, especially from a religious point of view. We hear people say ‘go and pray about it, you will be fine’ or ‘talk to your Pastor, Imam or a religious leader. There is that lack of education about what mental health really is and how to approach mental health struggles.

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Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.