The Kenya Counselling and Psychological Association (KCPA) will hold its National Mental Health Walk, an event coordinated simultaneously in ten counties across Kenya, as part of International Suicide Prevention Week.
The event, with the theme “Walk for Wellness”, aims at igniting awareness, motivating health-seeking behaviour, and ensuring better access to the treatment of mental health disorders, which, every year, are the cause of thousands of people in Kenya getting affected.
The walk, which is to be led by Prof. Catherine Gachutha, the National Chair of KCPA, will see a counselling psychologist and Director of the Kenya Institute of Business and Counselling Studies. Prof. Gachutha has become one of the most prominent voices in the country for mental health, persistently advocating for national programs that deal with stigma, empower people with the positive qualities of mental health, and are easy for people to access.
The leadership of KCPA under her has been so decisive in accomplishing a great act of positioning KCPA as a place where the policy makers and the masses meet.
More than 5,000 participants are expected to join the walk in simultaneous events across ten counties. Every county will have a 5-kilometre route of the walk with different rest points at each place where specially trained mental health professionals will talk to the public, provide resources, and share survivor testimonies. Awareness items, as well, will be given a name to help spread the idea of wellness and hope.
Prof. Gachutha disclosed that the walk was drawing Kenyans directly and collectively to engagement in mental health issues. It backs the Kenya Suicide Prevention Strategy 2021–2026 that cuts suicides by 10 per cent by 2026 as its main goal. It also links with the Sustainable Development Goals, chiefly SDG 3 on health and well-being.
KCPA deeply thanked the Co-operative Bank of Kenya for its contribution of KSh. 500,000 that made the walk a big success. A lot of praise was directed at Dr. Gideon Muriuki, Group Managing Director and CEO of Co-operative Bank, for being a remarkable supporter of mental health.
The bank that is led and envisioned by him not only becomes the financial partner but also the socially responsible one in the fight against the suffering of the people. This lovely support is a clear indication of the bank’s continuous commitment to providing mental wellness support for populations throughout the republic.
KCPA also recognised UNICAF’s significant financial support for this initiative, whose commitment will greatly enhance the event's influence and outreach.
With Prof. Gachutha leading and along with the support from partners like Co-operative Bank and UNICAF, the National Mental Health Walk will etch Kenya’s journey towards mental wellness, establishing that healing and resilience become a possibility when the institutions and communities come together.