- Implementing Organization: Slum and Rural Health Initiative
- Type: Transition-to-Scale
- Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone
- Thematic Area(s): Digital, Peer-based
The Brave Heart Intervention (BHI), launched by the Slum and Rural Health Initiative (SRHIN) in 2021, aims to tackle mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) challenges among youth aged 10 to 24. Initially piloted in internally displaced camps in Nigeria, the project is now expanding to Freetown, Sierra Leone. BHI focuses on prevention by addressing key risk factors for mental health issues, offering young people essential information and practical tools for making informed decisions, along with life skills training to enhance job readiness and competencies.
With prior funding from Grand Challenges Canada for proof-of-concept, SRHIN implemented this project in Nigeria and showed that community members could effectively deliver trusted and community-based mental health support for young people through the BHI intervention, which led to meaningful improvements in mental health outcomes. Now, with TTS funding from Being, SRHIN is expanding BHI’s reach to address SUD prevention in Sierra Leone, training teachers and community members with lived experience to deliver culturally relevant SUD literacy to youth in high schools and local communities. The curriculum, developed in English and three local languages, will be shared through the SIMBI Health mobile app.
