For the January 2024 edition of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International – Jerry Chiemeke, Nigerian lawyer, writer and journalist, writes about Words As Therapy, a mental health charity that delivered monthly meetings where “poetry blended with philosophy and music”. It was in 2017, in Lagos, and he was struggling with his mental health. That space afforded him a place to “unburden and unclench without judgment.”

In March 2017, a medical doctor ordered his driver to stop on the Third Mainland Bridge, came down from his car and jumped into the Lagos Lagoon. Traditional media platforms and social media buzzed with this tragic news. It was not the usual fare: that cocktail of pernicious poverty, drug use, and wanton criminality; this was a gentleman. It unveiled a severe concern about that taboo subject, mental health. 

Victor Ugo and Iyewande Dipeolu co-founded the Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative the previous year, but there were only so many interventions a nascent charity organisation could pull off.  There was a huge gap that needed to be filled.

In the second quarter of 2017, clusters of community-based mental health hubs sprouted in Lagos. One such hub was Words As Therapy, where poetry blended with philosophy and music. Vulnerability was at the core of their ethos; they gathered monthly. Their aim was not necessarily to seek “lasting solutions” but to provide a haven where people could unburden and unclench without judgment.

Hosted by poet William Moore and psychologist Amanda Ihemebiri, that community became my refuge. Words As Therapy found me at an interesting time. I had met William at an open mic event, and he offered an invitation. I had just come off a six-week-long suicide watch following my diagnosis of anxiety and depression. I was consumed by testiness, scribbling poems on Facebook, and finding solace in Mumford and Sons’ Wilder Minds LP record. 

The first session I attended looked like one of those Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in the movies, down to the introductions. But it felt safe, and I remember muttering, “Oh, there are many of us.” We shared personal stories without pressure to be coherent and didn’t sugar-coat our angst with positive affirmations. We were in the pits, but at least there was company. 

Sometimes, we discussed Existentialism and Game Theory, but we came to vent at most gatherings. We shared long hugs on small mats and laughed at self-deprecating jokes. I learnt to find tiny pockets of hope in our collective disillusionment. A few months ago, I was at a friend’s wedding, and one of my co-groomsmen revealed that he had first bumped into me at Words As Therapy. I grinned; those evenings at the Silverbird Galleria held more meaning than I can recall now.

Those conversations from 2017 are still catching on. As I navigate chilly climes, I can still only experience people in small doses, and on many nights, I feel like my dreams have shrunk in size, but I will always be grateful for the spaces that welcomed me in all my quirkiness.

Welcome to Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International. Launched in March 2022, this new blog aims to highlight international art and artists, particularly from low-and-middle-income countries, with a focus on mental health. We welcome submissions for consideration, such as, comments on artwork, visual arts, literature, drama, films, podcasts, and videos. Do have a look at the instructions for blog authors for details on how to submit. General enquiries about the blog: BJPInternational@rcpsych.ac.uk

Dr Marinos Kyriakopoulos, Editor-in-Chief, BJPsych International