Mental Health Day shines spotlight on the workplace

Nurse Eleanor Bennett

October tenth is celebrated as World Mental Health Day across the globe. The day is used to bring stakeholders together to talk about their work and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide. The theme this year focuses on mental health in the work place. Locally, the Ministry of Health joined with the rest of the world to observe the day. Eleanor Bennett of the Mental Health Unit in the Ministry of Health spoke with us about the importance of mental well-being in the work place. She shares more about the employee assistance programme implemented through the PSU:

Eleanor Bennett, Nursing Administrator, Mental Health Unit of MOH

“That program seeks to provide mental health care for Government employees that have mental health issues and may be exhibiting certain behavioral issues at work. That program is a model I think for a lot of other organizations for people to start pay attention to mental health problems of their employees. And there is a simple reason why that is so important; it is because we cannot separate our minds from our bodies so when we take our bodies to work, our minds come along with us. If we have issues that are affecting our minds, then it so translates that we will have issues in the work place; and that translates in many ways such as a lot of absenteeism, call in sick, people going to work not concentrating or focusing. So, this year’s observance is trying to bring employers on board to have them understand that paying attention to mental health of employees is not a luxury; it is what they have to do if they want to have a productive work force. So, they can no longer say if you want to work here then you better take care of your issues – that certainly is not helpful. What employers need to do then is to have programs in place to assist their employees.”