The Day Healing Became a Revolution: Dr. Maymunah Kadiri and TMHC 3.0 Rewrite the Story of Trauma
Lagos, Nigeria — On a day when silence finally gave way to courage, the air inside Alliance Française, Ikoyi felt charged with something sacred.
Dr. Maymunah Yusuf Kadiri, affectionately known as The Celebrity Shrink in the third edition of “The third edition of The Mental Health Conference (TMHC), brought together leaders from medicine, law, business, media and the arts among others for a day of candid conversation under the theme: “Trauma: What’s Your Story?” With a subtheme focused on prioritising mental health in the workplace.
TMHC 3.0 explored how personal histories, institutional practice and public policy intersect to shape wellbeing.
With a calm authority that drew tranquility like gravity,
Dr. Maymunah Yusuf Kadiri opened the conference not with slides or statistics, but with soul. She named the work before the room: to face trauma not as weakness, but as wisdom waiting to be shared.
Her voice carried a truth that resonated deeply: healing is not a destination, it’s a revolution of remembering.“We are here,” she said, “to turn our pain into power, our silence into story, and our stories into light.” Every human soul is a library… and trauma is that one chapter some of us keep hidden under lock and key.
Not because we are weak, but because turning the page feels like touching fire with bare hands.
In that moment, the conference became more than an event, it became a collective awakening.
Tracing TMHC’s evolution from “Unveiling the Mind Behind the Mask” to “Identity: Who Are You?,” she described this year’s focus as a deeper excavation into the unlit rooms of the self because: “Trauma is not just what happened to you. It’s what keeps happening inside you, long after the world thinks you should be fine.”
Her message was clear: healing is possible, even from the deepest wounds.
“Your story may be stained, but it is not spoiled. Your pain is part of your past, not your permanent address,” she encouraged.
Dr. May urged the audience to see their trauma not as a tomb but as soil— “The kind that is dark, messy, and full of decay, but also the kind where seeds take root.”
“This conference,” she said, “is not just an event — it is a revolution of remembrance. A sanctuary for stories. A battlefield for healing. And a birthplace of hope”
Balancing the opening with a government perspective, Dr. Olugbenga Owoeye — Medical Director and Consultant Neuropsychiatrist, representing Honourable Minister of State for Health Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, delivered a keynote titled “National Roadmap for Trauma Care and Mental Health Inclusion.”
Dr. Owoeye outlined policy commitments and practical plans, announcing moves toward National Trauma Centres and psychosocial intervention units at state level. “We are putting systems in place to ensure trauma care and mental health inclusion become national priorities,” he said, framing trauma care as a public-health and national-development imperative.
Former Nigerian Bar Association president Olumide Akpata, the second keynote speaker examined trauma through the lens of justice and social systems.
He argued that the national crises dominating public discourse: insecurity, inflation, unemployment, corruption — compound psychological harm and that mental health remains sidelined because it is often invisible.
He warned that when legal systems punish rather than heal, cycles of trauma are perpetuated. Therefore, he called for restorative approaches and investment in infrastructure and training to break those cycles.
Referencing the government’s plan to decriminalize suicide by December 2025, Apata called for a more compassionate approach to justice.
“True justice must be restorative, not merely punitive. A nation is only as successful as the collective mental wellness of its citizens.”
Other speakers grounded the conference in lived experience and professional insight. Mr. Wale Ajiboye, Chief Curator of 16Stories, connected the dots between identity and becoming; urging the audience to reconsider the meaning of their scars.
“Sometimes our traumas are actually calling us to greatness — if we can truly see and understand them,” he said.
Ms. Stephanie Busari of SBB Media offered a candid reflection on grief and work. While dealing with 2 traumatic losses as a journalist, she described trying to keep going because “the news doesn’t stop, Lagos doesn’t stop, life doesn’t pause for your pain,” and how, for a time, she believed she might outrun her grief by staying busy.
“Grief doesn’t wait for permission, neither does trauma check your schedule,” she said. Busari rejected the pressure to tidy sorrow into a neat lesson:
“We live in a world where people feel you should find a lesson, share the wisdom, and move on — but compound trauma doesn’t work that way.” She credited “the love of God, good people, and the honesty of admitting you’re not okay” as central to her recovery, and left listeners with a choice she holds dear:
“We can all choose what to do with our pain. We can let it destroy us, or make us more human.”
Dr. Olasimbo Davidson led a practical, reflective session on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), reminding participants: “You can’t heal what you’re not even aware of.” Her exercise underscored one of the conference’s persistent themes — awareness as the first step toward repair.
Panelists, Dr. Babi Awosika, Dr. Sylvanus Jatto, and Prof. Rosemary Ogu, led by Mrs.Adeola Kingsley James discussed the topic: Mental Health at the Heart of Work and Society.
They examined how workplaces, health systems and community support either protect or exacerbate trauma. They called for trauma-informed workplace policies, Employees Assistance Programs, routine occupational-health practice, and accessible care pathways.
The consensus: employers must move beyond token wellness offerings toward systemic change that embeds psychological safety into organizational practice.
Another group of panelists, Mrs.Temi Dalley, Mr.Foluso Ogunwale, Mrs.Oghenetega Gbadagri, Mrs.Josephine Ehimen, moderated by Mrs.Saudat Salami, discussed ‘The Wellness Equation: Mind, Body, Medicine & Finance’.
They explored the practical connections between physical health, financial security and psychological resilience.
Conversations ranged from how movement supports recovery to designing benefits that make wellbeing affordable and sustainable.
Speakers emphasised that financial stress is a core driver of poor mental health and argued for holistic corporate strategies integrating physical wellness, psychosocial support and financial literacy.
The conference also made space for restorative art from dance to music. Legendary performer Yinka Davies graced the day with a musical set that underscored the event’s message: art and music are powerful tools in collective healing.
In closing, Dr. May thanked speakers, partners and attendees and pointed toward the work ahead: “We’ve begun a necessary conversation — one that can no longer be silenced. Next year, TMHC 4.0 will continue this journey into collective care, healing and mental wellbeing.”
She left the room with a final charge: “Healing begins when we tell our stories and stop letting silence hold us hostage because the world doesn’t need perfect people, It needs powerful people. People who have walked through pain… and still choose love.”
