This is Lagos’ Latest Onslaught Against Mental Health Challenge

Efforts of the Lagos State government to contain mental health challenge in the state, has taken a new dimension, with its unveiling today of a digital directory.

The Lagos Community of Mental Health Providers (LCP) Directory, as it is called, centralises verified information on all mental health practitioners and organisations across the state

At the launch at the Ministry of Health, Alausa-Ikeja, Head, Special Projects and Mental Health, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Tolu Ajomale, said the directory marks a “historic and system-shaping milestone” in Lagos State’s commitment to improving access, reducing stigma, and strengthening coordination within its fast-expanding mental-health ecosystem.

It has come therefore to fill the lacuna of a unified, verified information hub, despite Lagos being home to Nigeria’s largest concentration of mental-health practitioners.

Ajomale said that the absence of a unified, verified information hub has long hindered access and timely help-seeking.

“This platform replaces confusion with clarity, isolation with collaboration, and misinformation with accountability,” he noted.

The new directory, he stated, would help in providing a single, trusted, real-time platform where residents, families, health workers, development partners, and policymakers can identify credible mental-health providers, their locations, areas of expertise, and accessibility.

It also aligns with the Lagos State Mental Health Law (2018), the THEMES+ Agenda, and the Ministry’s broader public health and primary healthcare strengthening strategies.

Ajomale described it as a major step toward consolidating the State’s leadership in mental health reform and ensuring that every Lagosian can find help safely, reliably, and promptly.

Another advantage of the LCP Directory, he said, is that it captures both clinical and non-clinical actors, including psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, therapists, NGOs, digital health innovators, research institutions, community groups, support networks, and diaspora providers offering virtual services.

Benefits of the new initiative

He listed advantages of the LCP Director to include:

1. improved access to credible resources,
2. enhanced visibility for providers,
3. strengthened referral systems, and
4. support for research, planning, and policy implementation among the platform’s core benefits.

According to him, this latest counter against mental health challenge also establishes a more coordinated environment for partnership, innovation, and mental-health system development.