Staff at the district office of the Department of Education took a break from their day-to-day activities to learn more about World Mental Health Awareness Day last week on Tuesday.
Staff at the district office of the Department of Education took a break from their day-to-day activities to learn more about World Mental Health Awareness Day last week on Tuesday.
In attendance were officials from the Makana sub-district office of the Health Department and Fort England Psychiatric Hospital staff with knowledge and skills in depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and suicide prevention.
Events Organiser at Fort England Hospital, Lulama Mkhumathela said their aim was to educate. “We visit communities and institutions,” she said. “We want to educate the public, as people need to be educated about mental illness so that they can cope when they have a mentally ill person at home.”
Program Manager of Mental Health and Substance Abuse from the Health Department, Nontozintle Hewana said, “This day has been dedicated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to raise awareness on mental health in communities. There are challenges facing our communities such as substance abuse and people ending up mentally ill. Some families are affected because their kids are using drugs.”
The department's Wellness Officer, Similokazi Dyaloyi said the main challenge is the stigma associated with mental illness. “Even colleagues at a workplace stigmatise each other. We all have illnesses. Services are there, but people do not utilise those services,” she said, adding that people must stop using the term “Emagezeni”(A place where mentally ill people are kept). This is a term locals use when referring to Fort England Psychiatric Hospital.
