Qatar to mark the World Mental Health Day

Ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10, Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and other health organisations are marking the World Mental Health Day and the theme for this year is “Mental Health in the Workplace”. The ministry encourages all organisations across the country to mark this important day. The health ministry along with key health partners Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation and Sidra Medical and Research Center will host activities to highlight the importance of promoting good mental health and well-being in the workplace. The aim is to encourage employees to seek help and challenge stigma. To mark this day, The ministry will utilise the Wheel of Wellbeing (WoW) framework and activities, based on Positive Psychology, to promote mental health and well-being at work. This will also help with the ongoing promotion of good mental health, resilience and stress management across the organisation. MoPH Mental Health and Wellbeing Champions will run activities around the six domains of WoW, which include promotion of physical activities, strong social connections, ongoing learning, taking notice, spirituality and looking after the environment. Information resources about managing stress, tips for mental well-being and details of services available in Qatar will be shared on the day.MoPH would like to encourage all organisations across Qatar to plan similar activities within their own workplaces in celebration of this day and to acknowledge this important occasion. Activities can range from: providing employees with information on how they can support self-care, well-being and work-life balance; empower individuals and employees to take actions that promote mental health resilience; address the negative attitudes and prejudices associated with mental illness in the workplace and promote employment practices that support good mental health and well-being.Sheikh Dr Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani, director of the Public Health Department at MoPH, said: “Mental health and well-being is one of the priority areas in the Qatar Public Health Strategy 2017-2022, with the main focus of encouraging people to speak openly about mental health and to seek help as early as possible. The Ministry of Public Health’s ‘Healthy Workplace Programme’ complements this year’s theme of World Mental Health Day by focusing on mental health and well-being at work and valuing the dual relationship between an individual’s mental health and their workplace”.The Acting Executive Director of the National Mental Health Programme at MoPH, Susan Clelland, added: “The mental health objectives of the Public Health Strategy have been designed to complement and build on the Qatar National Mental Health Strategy (QNMHS) launched in December 2013. QNMHS identifies workplaces as one of the priority settings for effective mental health programs to raise awareness about Mental Health and Wellbeing and lessen the likelihood of mental illness developing at work. The goal is for workplaces to promote good mental health and help create healthy, safe working environments”.She concluded that if organisations wanted more information on common mental health conditions and how to support staff wellbeing they can contact the National Mental Health Programme (mentalhealth@moph.gov.qa) based at the Ministry of Public Health.The World Federation of Mental Health celebrated the first World Mental Health Day on October 10, 1992 and is observed every year with the aim to raise awareness and mobilise support for mental health issues around the world.