ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Vol. 41 - No 36
Financial Times  

Better business is tolerant business, say mental health practitioners

By Dilshani Samaraweera

One in four families will have someone with a mental illness and five out of the ten most disabling illnesses are mental illnesses. Given the facts, mental health service providers are calling for greater understanding from Sri Lanka’s corporate sector.

The Sahanaya Fun Fair allowed people recovering from mental and emotional disorders to socialise and interact and also raised funds to sustain the organisation’s services.

The National Council for Mental Health, (Sahanaya), a non-profit organisation promoting mental health, says local companies need to become more educated on mental illnesses and be more accommodating of persons suffering from mental and emotional problems.

“Companies are becoming more supportive and they are more willing to help, but more can be done. In general 1% - 2% of adults suffer from serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and manic depression. These are serious illnesses because it affects a person very much. In addition, about 5% suffer from mild to moderate depression. But unlike most physical illnesses in the case of mental illness, the word mental has negative connotations,” says Professor Nalaka Mendis from Sahanaya.

There is no data on the impact of mental illness on the Sri Lankan economy or corporate sector but mental disorders are unavoidable in any society and for most people, so is work. The average working person spends at least eight hours a day at work. Because mental problems can’t be left at home, these problems automatically enter the workplace. Therefore, a more understanding work culture, say experts, will lead to lower absenteeism, less mistakes at work, and increased productivity.

Outside of being more tolerant of employees suffering from mental and emotional problems, Sahanaya says companies can do more to re-integrate persons that are recovering from mental disorders. The mental health service provider is now trying to persuade companies to make space for persons on the path to recovery. But matching corporate expectations with capacities of patients, is proving difficult.
“We are trying to persuade companies to provide job placements but there are various difficulties. For instance, organisations want full time workers but this is difficult for our clients. A person recovering from a mental problem can’t immediately jump into full time employment. It has to be a gradual approach. Maybe working a few days per week or a few hours per week and gradually building it up,” says Clinical Psychologist Joanna Levy from Sahanaya.

Corporate attitudes towards mental patients are another problem. Often jobs on offer for mental patients don’t match their capabilities. Unsympathetic corporate culture that tolerates bullying and less-understanding managements also make it harder for patients to integrate into work environments.

“A lot of the jobs available are manual or simple jobs. But a lot of patients are educated and intelligent. So these are not the type of jobs they want. Also stress situations at work can trigger a relapse. Some patients have been bullied at work. So it is very important to have an understanding boss to work with,” explained Levy.

Limited resources
On top of negative social attitudes, persons suffering from mental disorders are at an added disadvantage in Sri Lanka because of inadequate mental health services.

“There is a severe shortage of trained mental health personnel in Sri Lanka. Every year we produce 5 to 10 psychiatrists. In 1965 there were 19 psychiatrists, now there are about 15 at the ministry of health. In total there must be around 30 psychiatrists for the whole country, with those in the private sector and the universities. There are hardly any psychiatrist nurses. So there is a severe manpower shortage,” says Prof. Nalaka Mendis.

The poor distribution of even the available resources puts mental health facilities out of reach for most Sri Lankans.

“Almost 90% of the mental health services are concentrated in Colombo. So this means people living outside have difficulty accessing mental health services. If there are no services close to their homes people put off taking treatment.

So what happens is, that they wait until things are very bad before bringing patients for treatment,” says Mendis.

On the other hand, financial limitations make it difficult for organisations like Sahanaya to expand services.

“We constantly need to raise funds even to provide the current level of services. We organised a fun fair on January 27 and one objective was to raise funds,” said Administrative officer of Sahanaya, Rohantha Samarajeva.

Although Sahanaya receives an annual government grant of about Rs 500,000 to Rs 700,000, the organisation says this is not enough for its operations. At the moment Sahanaya provides counselling services to about 30 persons and rehabilitation therapy for about 40 persons.

To sustain and improve its services, Sahanaya is now looking for longer term corporate sponsorship.

“We charge a fee of Rs 1,000 per month for treatment. But some clients that come to us don’t even have money to eat. But we take them in. We don’t turn away anyone that comes here for treatment.

So if some corporates can make us regular contributions under their Corporate Social Responsibility projects, that would be a great service,” said Samarajeva.

 
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Copyright 2007 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.Colombo. Sri Lanka.