Judah Njoroge case study

Judah Njoroge case study

Judah Njoroge Wambui is a 2022 fellow from Kenya with a lived experience of mental health and the founder of Integrative Wellbeing and Youth Against Suicide.

Judah applied to the fellowship because he is passionate about equipping young people with informational awareness on their mental health and human rights. Judah entered the fellowship with a specific pilot project Mental health and me, aimed at raising awareness on mental health challenges faced by young people, promoting personal development and co-creating approaches to addressing issues.

Judah had already secured partial funding to trial implementation of the group program in a few local schools but required further training in operationalising, sustaining and scaling his project.

Judah shared that the fellowship had a number of impacts on his professional and personal advocacy journey including:

  • Capacity building – “I have developed several tools for advocacy that have made me confident enough to go after opportunities and doors that before the fellowship I would not dream of even reaching. I have learnt to create a working plan and execute it,” Judah said.
  • Specialisation –“The lessons I have received helped me re-evaluate my approaches and plans and form a more specific line of focus in my advocacy, which is the digitisation of mental health solutions, and solution delivery and research to be able to share what is working for my community to the academic stakeholders in mental health,” Judah said.
  • Networking and mentorship – “I was able to link with someone who has gone through a similar journey and our interaction goes a long way in helping to reaffirm my purpose and trajectory in the advocacy journey. The mentorship has also exposed me to opportunities that I would otherwise not have obtained on my own,” Judah said.
  • Personal development – “The fellowship taught me that it is okay to have fun, be myself and achieve holistic growth while still being the change I want to see by giving me the actual tools implement at the same,” Judah said.

Judah’s major takeaway from the fellowship was that different delivery systems were needed to support young people within Kenya. As a result, he has now split his project into three components including Henga, an online gathering of campus mental health advocates; Cheeze, a podcast about mental health targeting working youth in Kenya; and Banja, a television program that combines mental health awareness and entertainment.