Lagosians will now have a central, reliable gateway to mental-health care, the Ministry says.
Lagos State on Friday became Nigeria’s first state to launch a centralised Mental Health Directory, a Ministry-led registry of all mental-health providers across the State. The platform, called the Lagos Community of Mental Health Providers (LCP) Directory, was unveiled at the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Alausa-Ikeja, under the coordination of Dr. Tolu Ajomale, Head of Special Projects and Mental Health.
Dr. Ajomale described the launch as a “historic and system-shaping milestone” aimed at improving access, reducing stigma, and strengthening coordination within Lagos’s mental-health ecosystem. He highlighted that, despite hosting Nigeria’s largest concentration of mental-health practitioners, the absence of a verified information hub has hindered timely help-seeking.
The directory provides a trusted, real-time platform where residents, families, health workers, and policymakers can locate verified providers, their areas of expertise, and service accessibility. “This platform replaces confusion with clarity, isolation with collaboration, and misinformation with accountability,” he said.
Capturing clinical and non-clinical actors—including psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, therapists, NGOs, digital innovators, research institutions, and diaspora providers—the directory enhances visibility, strengthens referral systems, and supports research and policy implementation.
Dr. Ajomale announced that registration is free via www.lagosmind.org/providers and www.bit.ly/ileraokan, subject to multi-step verification. The platform will allow Lagosians to navigate crises, locate services by locality, cost, language, or specialty, and reduce reliance on unverified sources.
He described the initiative as “a transformative step toward a connected, responsive, and inclusive mental-health ecosystem for Lagos State,” urging all providers and organisations to participate.