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World Mental Health Day: raising awareness of mental health at work

As part of the celebration of World Mental Health Day, the team in Monrovia, Liberia, scheduled a week long program

As part of the celebration of World Mental Health Day, the team at the Benedict Menni Mental Health Center in Monrovia, Liberia, scheduled a week long program. This year’s theme emphasised on ”Prioritising mental health at workplaces”, the team took it upon themselves to sensitise various work spaces about mental health and its related issues, from Monday, October 21 through to Saturday, October 26, which the events were climaxed with an indoor program at the centre.

Various Institutions including financial companies and telecommunication brands amongst others acknowledged the idea to visit their facilities to share knowledge about mental health with them. The main aim of this workshop was to improve employee wellbeing, increase productivity, encourage a better work-life balance and inculcate a positive organisational culture. Financial firms including the Liberian Bank for Development & Investment, Ecobank and Access Bank gave the green-light for our team to train employees on mental health. Lonestar, telecommunication brand was not left out during this training.

As part of the training, we designed some questionnaires to help understand potential mental health problems that employees could be facing at their workspace and incorporate with employers the best practices aimed at increasing productivity. This training was participated by over five hundred employees from different companies. Some of the trainings were held in person and others on virtual platforms.

On Saturday, October 26, our indoor program was held at our premises in Pipeline. Program lead, Mikel Tellaeche, was present along with Jose Luis Giron, both CEO and Care director at the Aita Menni Hospital in Mondragon, Spain. The purpose of this occasion was to climax a week-long mental health activities and also show our new mental health building project. Mikel Tellaeche explained how this mental health project started by so doing he paid tribute to various religious leaders who passed away during the Ebola outbreak in 2014. Several guests attended the event, including Sr Barbara Brillant, dean of the Mother Patern College of health sciences, representatives of the Ministry of Health, Medicare Liberia, Access Bank, LBDI bank, Lonestar and Sisters of the Holy Rosary from Lofa county, as well as the families of our residents.

Guest speaker for this occasion was Dr. Wilbur Harris, a psychiatrist who has over the years shown his commitment and knowledge to helping persons living with mental, neurological and substance use disorders in Liberia. Dr. Harris gave a keynote speech emphasising more on some strategies employers could incorporate in their various companies to reduce employee fatigue, burnout and stress. He also acknowledged and supported the idea of wanting to increase the capacity of the centre by anew project that will see more persons receiving mental health care amidst the increase demand of the disease.

There will not be an occasion at the centre without some dance and culture display from our residents. They demonstrated courage, resilience and improved mental state through their performances and saw audience present moved from their seat, either to hug them or to donate. Some ex-patients were present to share lived experiences and encourage current residents about the journey after they leave the centre. They showed appreciation to the Management of the centre by initiating the Empowerment and Business Mentoring program which has seen beneficiaries currently having their own occupation.

The program finally came to an end with a fundraiser section to strengthen the mission of support and rehabilitation promoted by the Benedict Menni Mental Health Centre.