Voices
That Lead
A 5-week storytelling and mental health education programme for young Nigerians aged 18–25. Learning to understand yourself is the first step to everything else.
A lot of young Nigerians are going through real things — financially, emotionally, at home — and most of them have never been taught how to understand or talk about any of it.
Not because they don't want to. Because no one ever created a space where that kind of learning felt safe or relevant to their actual lives.
Voices That Lead is that space.
Storytelling as
a Learning Tool
Voices That Lead is a 5-week storytelling and mental health education programme for 60 young Nigerians aged 18–25. Four weeks happen online through guided sessions, reflection exercises, and peer discussion. The fifth week brings 40–50 participants together in Lagos for a closing reflection and storytelling gathering.
The programme is built around one idea: when young people learn to understand and express their own experiences, they become better at navigating life, connecting with others, and supporting people around them. That's the education.
After the programme, selected learning content and participant reflections will be shared through TSH's wider community platforms to support broader youth mental health awareness and conversation.
What Participants
Go Through
Each week builds on the last. Participants don't just consume content — they reflect, share, and practise the skills in real time with their peers.
This week makes mental health feel real and relevant. Not clinical. Not abstract. Just honest — what it means in everyday Nigerian life, why it matters, and why the silence around it costs people so much.
Reflection: Write down one thing you've been carrying that you've never named out loud.
Participants learn how to recognise their own emotional patterns and connect them to their experiences. This is foundational — you can't communicate what you don't understand about yourself.
Reflection: Three honest things about yourself you've never said in a group setting.
This week is practical. Participants learn how to express what they feel clearly, listen to others without fixing or dismissing, and communicate in ways that actually build connection rather than distance.
Reflection: Share a short story — something real — using the storytelling structure from the session.
The final online week focuses on peer relationships — how to support someone without fixing them, how to recognise when someone needs more than you can offer, and how community actually works as a protective factor for mental health.
Reflection: Who in your life would benefit from you being better at this? Write them a message — you don't have to send it.
The programme closes with a real gathering in Lagos for 40–50 participants. After four weeks of online learning and reflection, this is where it becomes physical — people in the same room, sharing what they've learned and what's shifted for them.
This is not a casual event. It's a meaningful ending. Every participant who wants to speak gets to speak.
- —Opening circle and post-programme self-assessment
- —Storytelling circle — participants share in their own words
- —Video testimonials captured with participant consent
- —Peer connection and programme close
You arrive in week 1 not sure if any of this applies to you. By week 5 you're standing up and saying what you've learned.
Young Nigerians
Figuring It Out
This is for young people aged 18–25 — students, graduates, people working, people job-hunting — who are navigating real pressure without the tools to process it well.
It's for that person who feels like they should be fine but isn't. Who can't explain what they're feeling, let alone talk about it. Who's never had a space where any of this felt like it was meant for them.
What Participants Learn
- How to recognise and name their emotional experiences
- Practical mental health awareness in everyday language
- How to communicate honestly without shutting down or escalating
- How to listen and support peers in healthy ways
- How to tell their own story with clarity and confidence
How We Know
It's Working
Every participant completes a short self-assessment at the start and end of the programme. We measure what we set out to teach — not just whether people showed up, but whether something actually shifted.
- Mental health awareness — does the participant understand it better?
- Emotional self-awareness — can they name what they feel more clearly?
- Communication confidence — are they more comfortable expressing themselves?
- Sense of belonging and peer connection
- Willingness to support others around mental health topics
We use a pre- and post-programme self-assessment plus facilitator observations, attendance data, and participant reflections. The closing event also gives us direct, unscripted video documentation of what participants take away.
The Team
Behind It
Twayne Safe Haven has been building youth community in Nigeria for over 11 years. This isn't a new idea we're testing. It's the next step of work we've been doing for a long time.
Facilitation
Partnership
Voices That Lead is delivered in partnership with Asido Foundation, who provide mental health education guidance, facilitation support, and safeguarding oversight throughout the programme.
How We
Keep It Safe
This is a peer education programme — not therapy, not counselling. That's made clear to every participant from day one. Sessions are structured learning environments, not open crisis spaces.
Peer moderators are trained before the programme begins and supported throughout. Asido Foundation oversees the mental health education approach and safeguarding protocols.
What Stays
When It's Done
For Participants
For the Organisation
This grant funds one cycle. What it builds is designed to keep going.
Full Programme Budget
$1,880 · USD
All amounts are in US dollars. The Africa IFI grant of £1,500 converts to approximately $1,880 at current rates. The full grant amount is allocated across the costs below.
The data support line ensures no participant is excluded because of internet access costs. All sessions and events are fully free for participants. The contingency (approx. 15%) accounts for the real cost variation that comes with running programmes across different locations in Nigeria.
Every Voice
Deserves to Lead
TSH has spent 11 years building the kind of space where young people feel safe enough to be honest. Voices That Lead takes that further — turning it into something that teaches, documents, and grows.
Presented to Africa IFI · Twayne Safe Haven · twaynesafehaven.org