Bringing Faith-Based Suicide Prevention to Africa

In this episode of the Strong Talk, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Vice President for Health Equity and Engagement Victor (Vic) Armstrong, MSW, speaks with Pastor Dr. François Tchidjé about their shared experience in a unique suicide prevention training conducted in Africa by AFSP and Soul Shop for Black Churches.

In March of 2022, AFSP partnered with Soul Shop Movement to convene a group of mental health experts with expertise in suicide prevention and connection to the Black and African American faith-based community. The group encompassed lived experience, as well as research, policy, and pastoral expertise. The result was the creation of Soul Shop for Black Churches, an eight-hour curriculum that teaches faith leaders in the Black community how to minister to congregants who may be experiencing suicidal desperation. Since its inception, SSFBC has trained faith leaders across America, including a training in Asheville, North Carolina, in October of 2023, which was attended by Dr. François Tchidjé, who traveled from Cameroon, Africa, to participate.

Returning to Africa, Dr. Tchidjé began conducting trainings on his own, but recognized the need for additional trainers, whom he was not certified to train. In response, AFSP’s Vic Armstrong, along with Soul Shop CEO Michelle Snyder, joined Dr. Tchidje in Cameroon, where they spent six days training 92 faith leaders in suicide prevention.

In this episode, host Vic Armstrong talks with Dr. Tchidjé about his motivation for traveling to America, the impact of his suicide prevention work utilizing his training with AFSP and Soul Shop and how it relates to the “African experience,” and their shared experience conducting the training in Cameroon.

Strong Talk is a podcast dedicated to the discussion of equity, diversity, and family as it relates to mental health and addictions. We started this podcast because we believe that we are at a pivotal point, as it pertains to access to mental health services for historically marginalized communities. We wanted to create a space, not only to talk about challenges, but to explore and to create space for solutions.