Iregi Mwenja

ID: a square graphic on a blue gradient background with the header: “The D-30 Impact List, 2021 Honoree, Iregi Mwenja, he/him/his, Kenya.” Iregi’s headshot on the right. Iregi is a black man with short brown hair and is wearing a white shirt. At the bottom, “Diversability, #D30DisList.”

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Iregi Mwenja (he/him/his)

Mental health advocate

Kenya

Iregi works towards bridging the gap between the need for mental health treatment by targeting the poor and marginalized in the community who are left out by mainstream mental health service providers. He stands out in Covid-19 mental health response—which has become very crucial as captured by a UK Mental Health Charity, Ember in this article “COVID-19 Stories of Change: PDO Kenya” (https://embermentalhealth.org/covid-19-stories-of-change-pdo-kenya)."

Iregi is at the forefront of revolutionizing mental health in Prison systems in Kenya by changing the perception of mental health literacy training in prisons covering lay counseling telepsychiatry and offering psychosocial support. His community innovation initiative, Pamoja has been featured in the UNAIDS Ten Global Community Innovation booklet of 2020. His user-led initiative, Pepea was featured in the May 2021 edition of the Business Daily Africa.

We asked Iregi if he would like to add anything else to his accomplishments, and he stated: “Our COVID mental health response has been the leading COVID-19 mental health response organization in Kenya. When everyone feared getting directly involved with COVID frontline workers, we understood the importance of protecting their psychological wellbeing and launched a range of mental health interventions for them across the country last year. So far we have reached 856 COVID health workers.” Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNFJ7kI77EU&t=43s