5 Things We Learned from Dr. Babi Awosika at The Mental Health Conference

Dr. Babi Awosika, an Occupational Health Doctor and Company Medical Doctor for Nestlé Nigeria Plc, brought both professional insight and personal truth to the conversation. Her story bridged the clinical and the human — reminding us that even those who heal others sometimes face invisible battles of their own.

Why Awareness, Safety, and Honest Conversations Still Matter in Mental Health

1. Self-awareness can be the first step toward healing.

“I have dealt with anxiety,” Dr. Awosika shared. “The first incident was during my housemanship… I started to have palpitations… even my blood pressure went up.” One day, she stumbled upon a section in her textbook titled Anxiety Neurosis. “When I read up on it, everything pointed to what I was going through,” she said.

Recognising the signs helped her take back control: “The next time that feeling came up, I just said to myself, this is not real, this is a mental thing and that was the end of it at that time.” Her story underscored how naming what we feel can often loosen its hold on us.

2. Understanding what’s wrong can change everything.

“When sometimes you know what is wrong, you are able to deal with it,” she explained. Awareness transforms fear into agency. By demystifying mental health, people learn that anxiety, depression, or burnout are not moral failings — they are signals. And once identified, they can be addressed with compassion and care.

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3. Progress is visible — mindsets are shifting.

Reflecting on her years in occupational health, she noted: “Even as we have progressed with creating awareness, educating people, doing training… the mindsets have changed.”

Change, she reminded the audience, happens gradually — through persistence, policy, and honest dialogue. The stigma is softening, but the work must continue.

4. Safe spaces are sacred — choose them wisely.

“Of course, you have to be careful who you share things with,” she cautioned. “That’s why we have professionals, that’s why we have Dr. May and her team. Because you don’t want to share something with someone that’s going to make it worse.”

Her reminder was simple but crucial: healing requires trust, and not every listener is equipped to hold another’s pain.

Read Also: 5 Things We Learned from Dr. Sylvanus Jatto at The Mental Health Conference

5. Awareness breaks stigma and builds stronger communities.

“There are so many things that we deal with,” Dr. Awosika said, “so with this, we are able to share our thoughts, we are able to raise awareness, we are able to change the mindset, we are able to reduce the stigmatisation that surrounds mental health.”

In her voice was both hope and conviction — that when workplaces and communities normalise mental health conversations, we move from silence to support, and from judgment to understanding.