Cohort 1
My mum needed me in a way she never had before. And I was ready. That is the only testimony I need.
#1MillionFanciedAiders · Pan-African · Since 2022
You are not alone.You are seen, lovedand heard.
Training 1 million Fancied Aiders for Africa.
You are not aloneYou are seenYou are lovedYou are heard#1MillionFanciedAidersYou are not aloneYou are seenYou are lovedYou are heard#1MillionFanciedAiders
300+
Everyday Africans certified as Mental Health First Aiders
200K+
People reached through our campaigns and storytelling
6
Countries with Fancied Aiders — Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Sri Lanka, India & the UK
#1MillionFanciedAiders
300 of 1,000,000
Our north star. We're just getting started.
By community.
For community.
In community.
Through community.
For community.
In community.
Through community.
A Pan-African, youth-led social movement training everyday Africans in Mental Health First Aid.
Est. 2022 · Nairobi, Kenya · Expanding Across Africa
Who We Are
A Pan-African social movement training everyday Africans in Mental Health First Aid.
Fancied Story Network is a Pan-African, youth-led social movement based in Nairobi. We exist because mental health support shouldn't depend on who you know or what you can afford. There are not enough therapists. There never will be. So we train the people who are already in your community and give them the skills to show up when it matters.
Through Fancied Aiders Academy and Fancied Stories, we are building a movement of everyday Africans equipped to recognise, respond to and reduce the impact of mental health challenges — one community at a time.
Our Vision
To build a world where people can know they are not alone, they are seen, loved and heard.
Our Mission
To make mental health accessible to everyday Africans through storytelling, community, and people trained in Mental Health First Aid.
Task Shifting
Community-Led
Storytelling
Decolonial
Wholistic Wellness
<1
mental health professional per 100,000 people across Africa
The Problem
Africa has a mental health crisis. And not enough therapists to meet it.
Most communities have no one trained to help when someone is in crisis — at home, at school, at work. People suffer in silence. And sometimes, they don't survive it. Something had to change.
The Solution
Fancied Aiders Academy
FSN's mental health first aid training school, certifying everyday Africans to be the first line of support in their communities. A Fancied Aider is not a therapist. They are the first person someone turns to — a colleague, a neighbour, a friend. Now certified in Mental Health First Aid.
Developed by 6 FSN therapists who wanted to give Africa a timely, community-rooted answer to its mental health emergency
9 weeks. Online. Therapist-led. Certified.
Our certification programme runs over 9 weeks, fully online, led live by qualified therapists. You use the ALGEE framework, real community stories, and practical tools you can apply immediately. No clinical background needed — just the willingness to show up.
01
Apply
Applications open before each cohort. Willingness is the only requirement.
02
Train
9 weekly sessions via Google Meet — ALGEE, active listening, stigma, crisis response.
03
Certify
Graduate as a certified Mental Health First Aider, ready to respond.
04
Deploy
Take your skills into your community — school, church, office, home.
The Framework — ALGEE
Every Fancied Aider learns to respond using ALGEE — a WHO-endorsed, evidence-based action plan for mental health first aid. Simple enough to remember. Powerful enough to save a life.
A
Approach
Approach with care. Assess for risk. Address the immediate situation.
L
Listen
Listen non-judgmentally. Presence matters more than perfect words.
G
Give Support
Give information and support without judgment or clinical advice.
E
Encourage Help
Encourage the person to seek appropriate professional support.
E
Encourage Self-Help
Encourage self-help strategies and wider community support.
Become a Fancied Aider if you…
You don't need a clinical background. You don't need experience. You just need to care about the people around you.
Want to support the people around you but don't know how
Believe mental health support should reach everyone, not just those who can afford a therapist
Are a teacher, community leader, parent, HR professional or student
Want a recognised Mental Health First Aid certification
Are ready to be part of Africa's mental health movement
The ripple effect of one Fancied Aider
1
Fancied Aider certified
50
people reached per year
1M
our north star
Every person trained in Mental Health First Aid carries those skills into their community. Their workplace. Their home. Their church. One certification multiplies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cohorts run across Nairobi, Kilifi, and Kigali. Next cohort opening soon.
Who Becomes an Aider
A dancer. An engineer. A mum. A journalist. You.
Fancied Aiders are not a type — they are a decision. They are the people already in your community. The ones who care. The ones who show up. Now equipped to show up better.
Every cohort includes people who thought this wasn't for them — and graduated certain that it was.
Students
Bringing MHFA into campus communities and peer networks across Kenya and Rwanda.
Professionals
Taking mental health first aid into offices, factories, and corporate spaces.
Creatives & Artists
Using community access as an entry point for mental health conversations.
Community Leaders
Church members, Girl Guides, social workers — trusted people, now equipped to respond.
Our North Star Goal
1M
Fancied Aiders trained across Africa.
We started with one cohort in Nairobi in 2022. Every trained aider takes us one step closer to a continent where no one faces a mental health emergency alone.
Fancied Aiders
What Our Aiders Say
Cohort 1
My friends had suicidal thoughts. I came up completely blank. That was the moment I knew I needed this.
Cohort 1
Engineering teaches you to solve problems. This taught me that sometimes the problem isn't yours to solve — it's yours to hold.
Cohort 1
Nobody talks about what motherhood actually costs you mentally.
Cohort 2
I wanted to break the narrative that you have to pray depression away — that anxiety is just a demon.
Our WorkTraining Programme Storytelling Programme Community Programme
Three programmes. One mission.
Fancied Aiders Academy
FSN's training school certifying everyday Africans as Mental Health First Aiders. 9 weeks. Online. Therapist-led. No clinical background needed.
9 weeks · ALGEE · Google Meet · Kenya & Rwanda · Therapist trainers
Apply for next cohort →Fancied Stories
FSN's storytelling programme running campaigns and events that create safe spaces for everyday Africans to share their stories. Every story shared prevents someone else from dying in silence.
#Niskizee · #YouAreSeen · #OfImportanceNiwewe · Picnics, walks, festivals
Explore campaigns →Fancied Families
FSN's school feeding programme, sponsoring meal plans for public school students through the Macheo Feeding Programme. A child cannot learn or heal on an empty stomach.
School meals · Macheo Feeding Programme · Mental health in schools
Explore project →Fancied Stories
Safe spaces for everyday Africans to share and live their stories.
Fancied Stories is a programme under FSN that runs storytelling campaigns — creating the spaces where mental health stops being a clinical conversation and starts being a human one.
Through advocacy-driven campaigns, events and safe community spaces, Fancied Stories tackles the mental health issues Africa doesn't talk about enough — and refuses to look away.
We believe that every time someone shares their story, they prevent someone else from dying in silence.
Our Campaigns
Mental health campaigns changing the conversation in Africa.
Each campaign runs annually, tackling a specific mental health issue through storytelling, community events and digital advocacy. Tap any campaign to explore.
Every campaign is a safe space. Every story shared saves a life.
Share Your StoryFancied Families
First we feed them. Then we show up for them.
Fancied Families is FSN's school feeding programme — sponsoring meal plans for public-school students through the Macheo Feeding Programme across public schools in Kenya. A hungry child cannot learn. A child who cannot learn cannot heal. Every meal plan FSN sponsors is the beginning of a mental health conversation.
After feeding, FSN runs mental health programmes in the school — equipping teachers, reaching children, and making sure no child has to carry their struggles alone.
Macheo Feeding Programme · Gachororo Primary School · Nairobi, Kenya
Headteacher
Gachororo Primary School
Our school needed this programme so much. Every day I see children carrying things no child should carry alone — hunger, worry, things from home that follow them into the classroom. When Fancied Story Network came, they did not just bring food. They brought a whole programme. They saw our children.
Mtoto wa Darasa la 5
Gachororo Primary School
Kabla ya chakula, nilikuwa nafikiri tu kuhusu njaa. Sikuweza kusikiliza mwalimu vizuri. Sasa ninakula asubuhi na ninaweza kukaa darasani na kujifunza. Ninafurahi kwenda shule. Asante kwa watu wanaotujali.
Translation: Before the meals, I could only think about hunger. I couldn't listen to the teacher properly. Now I eat in the morning and I can sit in class and study. I am happy to go to school. Thank you to the people who care for us and give us food and love.
Fancied Parent
Meal Plan Sponsor
I sponsor because I remember what it felt like to sit in a classroom and not be able to concentrate — not because I didn't want to learn, but because my body had other things on its mind. What I love about this programme is that it doesn't stop at the meal. FSN goes in and runs mental health sessions too.
Every meal plan sponsored is a child who can learn, heal and grow.
Become a Fancied ParentOur Impact Since 2022
From grassroots to data-backed.
FSN has grown from a personal act — one founder, one community, one idea — into a measurable force for mental health change across Africa. Every number here is a person.
Community members certified as Mental Health First Aiders
Young people reached through digital and physical campaigns
Healing workshops and community dialogues hosted
Cohorts trained and deployed across Kenya and Rwanda
Get In Touch
Join the movement.
Whether you want to become a Fancied Aider, partner with FSN, fund a cohort, or bring us to your community — we want to hear from you.
hello@fanciedstory.network
Nairobi, Kenya · Expanding to Rwanda
Pan-African · Youth-Led · Est. 2022
Send a Message