By HARBGUY MWAMBAZI –
MENTAL wellness is a positive state of mental health and it is more than the absence of mental illness.
People who are mentally well are positive, self-assured and happy.
Further, such people are usually in control of their thoughts, emotions and behaviour.
This enables them to handle challenges, build strong relationships and enjoy life.
Fortitude Arts Gallery, an organisation which advocates for mental health awareness through art, recently launched a campaign called “I am Without a Face”, which was aimed at normalising and encouraging conversation on mental wellness within communities and corporate entities.
The campaign pioneer Alice Mulombe Muyambo, a self-taught visual artiste and author who uses art to advocate for mental health awareness, says the campaign was aimed at promoting awareness on mental health within communities.
“The goal of the campaign is to normalise and encourage conversations on mental wellness within communities and the workplace. It hopes to achieve this through the integration of activities that promote mental health wellness such as art therapy sessions to corporate team-building activities,” she said.
Ms Muyambo added that the campaign was seeking to encourage line ministries and other public and private organisations to actively participate in the cause by sponsoring the production of the art therapy colouring book which they could gift to their employees or donate to a charity, school, or wellness.
Ms Muyambo recently launched an art therapy book titled “Free your Mind Free Yourself” which she uses as a therapeutic tool for mental wellness through art.
“The art therapy colouring book is for teenagers and adults. It has inspirational quotes and positive affirmations that both teenagers and adults can use as they pursue their everyday lives and take on the challenges that come along the way,” she said.
Seventeen Restaurant managing director Panji Kakube stressed that initiatives that centred on sensitive health issues of life needed to be embraced on a greater scale.
“We did not hesitate to partner with Fortitude Arts Gallery to launch such an impactful and timely campaign because it stands for exactly what we believe in, the campaign will not only provide a platform for organisations to demonstrate their commitment to promoting mental wellness,” he said.
Mr Kakube said there was need to ensure that conversations around mental health issues were propelled further within the country.
He said there was need to encourage conversations on mental wellness in work spaces, adding that mental health consciousness was a good business practice.
“It is an investment to promote conversations and practices that promote mental wellness for those who work tirelessly to ensure that we meet our corporate objectives, employees avail their time, skills, talents and commitment to organisations, in turn, businesses thrive,” he said.
Psychologist and mental health counsellor Maxwell Banda said it was important that organisations put in place measures to ensure that mental health awareness was prioritised among employees.
Dr Banda stressed that employers had a mandate to observe and know how to handle their employees so as to ensure that their state of mind is in the right frame.
Arise Ruth Foundation founder and mental health officer Rabbeca Mvula said for mental health to be tackled tactically, citizens must first understand what was involved and quickly identify the signs.
Ms Mvula stressed that whether at home or at work, people within society needed to help each other by taking time observe their family members and colleagues respectively.
“The issue of mental health is everywhere you go. It is in our homes as well as our workplaces, and if we are to manage this theme properly we need to observe our family members as well as our colleagues so as to suggest some help for them when we see minimal changes,” she says.
Great North Road Academy Rehab Centre is one organisation that recently began offering telephone therapy, which contributes to citizens’ state of mind, especially while they are at work.
Great North Road Academy Rehab Centre manager Precious Posta said clients or people within society had a stigma of reaching out to a counsellor or psychiatric for fear that they would be embarrassed.
She noted that African society had always had the perception that adults, especially men, need to bury their problems instead of discussing their dilemmas.
“The African perception that an adult cannot talk about their problems is completely incorrect. Some men even fear embarrassment just to talk about their issues not knowing that letting out problems eases the load of mental health on the inside,” she said.
Ms Posta said for people who felt embarrassed, telephone therapy might come in handy to replace their option of physically being present during therapy.
Mpani Banda is one of the people who have been receiving telephone therapy after she lost her brother.
According to Ms Banda, telephone therapy allowed her to freely open up her mind even if not present.
“I first started with group therapy and then later switched to telephone therapy. I felt embarrassed initially but on phone we don’t even know each other and yet we talk freely. So, I just offload anything that is weighing on my mind,” she said.
She added that letting her mind out by talking to someone had helped
her battle through depression and improve her mood at work.
It is, therefore, important that mental wellness awareness is raised within organisations and families to ensure a healthy nation.