Employers need lessons on mental health issues

Employers need to open their minds and learn that there is more to a person’s health than just the physical. This is according to journalist-turned mental health activist, and also founder of the Embrace Emotions Support Network (EESN), Dikatso Selemogwe. While working in a highly stressful environment of the newsroom with back to back deadlines for three different publications, Selemogwe battled general anxiety disorder (GAD), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) as well as Bi-polar 2 which she says started off as Chronic Major Depression.

She says: “Depression, anxiety and stress are hidden illnesses which can be covered up to a certain extent, and in the workplace, it’s okay to talk about your physical ailments, but there is still some way to go as far as talking about the state of your mental health. “I felt as though I couldn’t really reveal the true nature of what I was going through, out of fear of losing my job or being thought of as ‘unable’ to do it or ‘unhinged’ by others. Even worse would be when they use your illness against you,” she narrates. And when she did confide in her supervisor and employer about her health struggles, they were initially understanding, she says, but that was until the conditions started to manifest and when she needed to honor her monthly check ups with the five different specialists who were helping her manage her conditions.

“I have been told ‘this is a business, not a sick bay,’ because I had to take many days off to see my doctors or to collect my meds,” she reveals. Another time, a supervisor could not understand why the doctor would write a sick note that my workload should be reduced, and they were like, ‘You look fine, just push yourself.’ “So I let it go on for too long, trying to cope alone, which resulted in it worsening. It can often be quite a deep, complex issue for some,” she says. Selemogwe says it came to a point where she had to choose between her sanity and her livelihood. And that’s when she decided to get out of the formal employment sector. “My worst fear is losing my mind completely and not functioning. I had no choice but to get out of that environment,” she recalls.

Trained psychologist and Business Development Manager at the Global Institute for Professional Training (GIPT), Henry Moronga acknowledges that emotional health conditions cost employers in direct health care costs and indirect costs associated with lost productivity and disability costs. But unfortunately, according to Maronga, there is not enough information on the subject and therefore it often presents a dilemma for both the employer and employee alike, who don’t always know how to deal with it. Both Maronga and Selemogwe believe that a lot of training and support should be provided for people and workplaces to be able to talk about it more transparently and more tools provided to help people cope better.