Dr Maaike Seekles

Headshot of Dr Maaike Seekles

Project Title: Promoting adolescent mental health in Liberia: a formative study and feasibility pilot to inform the adaptation and implementation of a WHO school mental health manual.

Project Summary: Adolescent mental health issues can have far-reaching consequences in adult life. Training teachers how to recognise and support students with psychological issues can help prevent this. The Liberian Government wants to train its teachers, using a manual developed by the World Health Organization. To ensure that this training responds to the local context, this mixed methods

study will assess teachers’ mental health knowledge/attitudes, the level of psychological issues in adolescents, and how schools currently respond to these issues, before adapting and evaluating the training. The finalised manual can be used alongside other adolescent-targeted and community-based approaches to promote adolescent mental health.