Africa’s Emotions Doctor Alabi Sets up Emotions City Trust in Lagos to Provide Free Therapy

Africa’s Emotions Doctor Alabi Sets up Emotions City Trust in Lagos to Provide Free Therapy

Rebecca Ejifoma

Africa’s female Emotions Doctor and Founder, Emotions City, Oyinkansola Alabi has set up an Emotions City Trust to support thousands of individuals who require therapy but cannot afford it, as it unveiled its new Lagos office at Osborne Foreshore Estate in Ikoyi, where top notch mental health sessions and trainings are held.

According to Alabi the initiative, which aims to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of Nigerians, was commissioned to support people who are experiencing mental instability especially as a result of the changes brought about by the unprecedented pandemic, hence, cannot afford to pay for therapy.

“The changes brought about by the pandemic such as loss of jobs, inflation of prices of goods and services, have had drastic effects on a lot of people. So, people naturally reach out to us daily across our social media platforms,” the expert expressed.

While mentioning that they get at least 50 requests daily, asking for counselling, Alabi added, “We are not always able to attend to them because whoever needs to be attended to has to pay, we have bills to pay too”.

“So we will be offering 80 per cent free therapy to Nigerians. Our plan is to get people who appreciate investing in mental health to foot those bills and then give to people who cannot afford to pay for mental health,” she noted.

With the organisation paying 80 per cent, patients will have to pay the remaining 20 per cent of the fee.

According to the expert, the reason is so that the patients can value what they are offering them. “We have spoken to 40 different therapists and psychologists who agreed that they will receive a stipend every session.”

On the requirements for a therapy session, she added that interested persons would be required to fill a form indicating why they needed a therapy session and with those details, some would be selected to partake in the programme.

While calling on well meaning Nigerians for support, Alabi said, “We have put up our account details on our social media platforms. When people pay in, they can send us an evidence of payment.

She further assured Nigerians that they would also give an account of how the money is spent. “As soon as people start contributing, we can commence with the therapy sessions.”

Now, Emotions City is an African organisation designed by an African for Africans based in Lagos and Texas.

It maps out Emotional Intelligence solutions to emotional challenges, develops insights and strategies to the most pressing personal and organisational issues, and impacts the course of history by inspiring, empowering and influencing professionals.

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