05 Nov 2020

Mental health problems have become an endemic in the workplace.

Addressing a media conference in Gaborone on Tuesday, director of Botswana Network for Mental Health, (BNMH) Ms Charity Kennedy said according to estimates, depression and anxiety cause a global economic loss of US$3 trillion annually.

She said it was therefore a wake up call for immediate corrective and supportive action to tackle mental health issues at the workplace.

Ms Kennedy said it was high time workplaces had programmes that treat mental health as an important issue.

She pointed out that there should be regular educational seminars or workshops on mental health issues, as those would curb stigma associated with mental health.

She called for policy at departmental level, saying new employees needed to be educated on mental health issues during orientation, so to be prepared for what may happen and be able to deal with different challenges as and when they arose.

She pointed out that some people came to work bearing different issues from home, therefore it was important that they learn about mental health, otherwise ‘they would end up with psychological problems’ which may render them unproductive.

Ms Kennedy also encouraged employees to undergo a psychological assessment to identify predispositions to depression.

For her part, a therapist at BNMH, Ms Keletso Motsage called for the workplace to ‘normalise’ counselling.  

She said counselling does not necessarily have to be with a therapist, but someone with whom  one is comfortable talking to, saying that would make a difference in people’s mental stability.

She said generally life was emotionally taxing, be it with finances, relationships, trauma, illness, grief, therefore counselling should be made a norm at the workplace.

She was also of the view that workers should attend counselling sessions even when things were going well, as such would expose hidden or unknown mental issues and therefore would be assisted and or learn coping mechanisms.

She pointed out that depression had severe negative consequences for the wellbeing and quality of life of an individual.

She said it resulted in serious losses as employees exhibit low energy, tardiness, absenteeism, social withdrawal, anxiety, mood swings leading to poor work quality and decreased productivity.

She therefore called for work/life balance, saying unsupportive co-workers and bosses or facing financial instability further adds to the problem, adding that a worker would have feelings of being helpless, trapped, overwhelmed and incompetent.

Secretary general for Botswana Human Resource Society, Mr Opedi Manase called for support to employees through educating them on mental health issues at the workplace.

She said the workplace could conduct workshops to educate employees on identifying signs of depression and what actions to take to help themselves out of it before being burnt out.

He also called for top management to open up and share information on stress and anxiety on a regular basis, saying such would assist in reducing inhibitions about opening up about such problems and create a safe space for sharing, especially during  this COVID-19 era. ENDS