Rashid Raji, PhD
President
About CWAAF
CWAAF was established in response to psychological and mental health challenges that many Nigerians experienced but have not acknowledged the impacts of these reactions on their social and interpersonal relationships and psychological functioning. CWAAF’s mission is to comprehensively analyze all aspects of the Nigerian society related to traumatic stress and their health outcomes on quality of life.
Consequently, CWAAF looks at psychological functioning at the individual, family and community levels. We therefore examine and analyze policies and their impacts on overall mental wellbeing of citizens, families and communities. CWAAF is strategically positioned to bring awareness on psychological trauma experiences through psychotherapeutic and psycho educational lens to reduce/eliminate self-limiting and damaging influences of cognitive distortions and their consequences.
Psychological trauma as an inducer of depression and anxiety and other mental health problems, is also linked to the unknown and pervasive but perceived threat that drives self-medication and substance addiction, drug use across age groups in Nigeria.
Furthermore, the growing substance abuse and addiction and youth suicide attempts are justification for the establishment of CWAAF, to create awareness through workshops and seminars, establish psychotherapy clinic to support children in schools and families in their communities. Lastly, CWAAF is poised to work with stakeholders to positively change perceptions around psychological stress and related traumatic stress and the mental health issues in communities in Nigeria.
We Are On A Mission
Our Goal
Our goal is to assist in utilizing skills in addressing stigma of mental health and widening access to care around in thematic areas. Fundamentally, our goal is behavior change, to decrease depression, anxiety, bring awareness to trauma related cognitive distortion to improve better health outcome for individual, children, families and the community as a whole.
Approach
Through research, advocacy, community and grassroots work, we disrupt systems that creates negative homeostasis that undermines individuals, family and community resilience and development. We strive for resilience at the different levels of wellbeing and therefore systems driven and change focused. We investigate the impacts of systems on wellbeing, and we work with partners to strengthen systems. We disrupt the negative impacts of systems; we evaluate and assess positive and negative hemostasis. Our social change goal is to use disruptive thinking to disrupt negative hemostasis.
- Grassroots approaches: CWAAF will establish partnership with community health centers, dispensaries, local pharmacies and traditional stakeholders to expand, build capacity and extend services. CWAAF will collaborate with relevant stakeholders in town meetings, advocacy, create awareness and sensitization that support its mission.
- Partnership & Collaboration: CWAAF will collaborate with government, local, national and international NGOs and organization to integrate service to clients.
- Capacity building: CWAAF will provide trauma informed capacity building trainings for NGOs, CSOs and community organization.
- Coalition building & networking: maintain coalition of groups and also to network, faith-based, nonprofits, and organizations to advance policy advocacy and change in the community.
- Advocacy: CWAAF will participate in advance social justice issues consistent with its mission.
- Research & documentation: CWAAF interventions is guided by evidence in the research and will conduct research to advance social and policy change in Nigeria.
- Consultancy/consultation: CWAAF will provide consultancy services to agency, organizations, and institutions that support welfare and wellbeing of individuals, families, children and communities.
- Enlightenment and civic engagement: CWAAF provide enlightenment campaigns to advance its mission.
