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Workplace Mental Health
Work-related stress can have negative impacts on both the employee and business as it is a major cause of both mental and physical health problems for staff.
It can lead to increased employee absence through sickness, higher staff turnover and poor performance in the organization in terms of productivity and accidents. Work-related stress can also manifest in individuals as heart disease, back pain, headaches, gastrointestinal disturbances, or various minor illnesses; as well as psychological effects such as anxiety and depression, loss of concentration and poor decision making.
In addition to the traditional work-related stressors, the Covid-19 pandemicongoing political and economic instability in Myanmar has added considerably to the potential sources of stress. Supporting staff through these challenging times has become increasingly important for the wellbeing of employees and their families, as well as the ongoing viability of the businesses.
There are a lot of small changes that a business can make to improve mental health in the workplace that are not time-intensive nor expensive. The Australian-based Black Dog Institute provides six ways companies can help contribute to the wellbeing of their staff in the workplace.
- Creating a smart work design including establishing flexible working hours, involving staff in deciding how work is performed, monitoring staff workload, and ensuring that the physical work environment is safe and encouraging.
- Building personal resilience amongst staff by providing stress management and resilience training for those in high-risk jobs, using evidence-based psychotherapy, providing and encouraging regular physical activity opportunities like lunchtime yoga, jogging or meditation, and encouraging mentoring and coaching.
- Building a better work culture by providing mental health education to the whole team, engaging senior staff in mental health promotion, and implementing a mental health policy that includes zero tolerance of bullying and discrimination. In doing so this will help to reduce the stigma of mental health problems and encourage people to speak openly about their problems and seek help.
- Increasing awareness of mental health by providing access to mental health information in the office or on the company intranet, talking openly about mental health at work, conducting mental health awareness programs and making training mandatory.
- Supporting staff recover from mental illness by providing supervisor training on how to support workers recovering from mental illness and stressful life events, facilitating flexible sick leave, modifying duties and work schedules when appropriate and providing a supportive environment which is free of bullying and discrimination.
- Early intervention can also play an important role in the severity of a mental health condition. Staff should be encouraged to seek help early and that appropriate support is in place should a worker need to take time off or seek professional help.
Counselling Corner has also developed two Mental Health Awareness banners with 10 tips to stay mentally strong.
MCRB, in reference to the MHPSS Referral Directory has compiled a list of mental health and counselling services in Myanmar. While some of the services are paid services, others are free of charge.
Mental health and counselling services in Myanmar
Call Me Today
Call Me Today is the first Myanmar mental health phoneline counselling service. They share resources and tips on mental health and resilient topics on their Facebook page and have other resources on their website. Call Me Today offers services such as relationship counselling, LGBT counselling, psychosocial counselling, trauma counselling, psychiatric counselling, and telegram text counselling. Other services include MHPSS projects, corporate training, mental wellbeing for employee and mental health online campaign.
Citta Consultancy
Citta Consultancy provides psychological consulting services and wellness programs for people in Myanmar. They also share mental health topics at their Facebook page. The services Citta Consultancy offers are counselling services, employee assistance program, mental health check-up program, perinatal mental health service, Khitthit Academy, workshops, and so on.
Counselling Corner
The Counselling Corner was founded in 2018 providing a wide range of counselling services to help people mitigate stress and overcome the various issues of life. They offer counselling services for individuals, couples, families, and groups. In addition, every Wednesday and Saturday from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Counselling Corner offers webinars on various mental health topics and emotional wellbeing workshops. They also provide 20-hour training courses which cover basic, intermediate, and advanced counselling skills for those keen to become professional counsellors. Counselling Corner aims to help people develop strong mental health and skills in protecting and enhancing mental well-being.
Honest Hour
Honest Hour offers well-being services that will pave the way to enhance self-management, assisting the mindfulness practices, providing holistic care to the clients who suffer from mental distress and emotional challenges. They also share mental health topics on their Facebook page. Honest Hour provides services such as counselling services, employee assistance program – corporate services, emotional support sessions, mental health workshops, webinars, training and so on.
Marble Psychological Services
Marble is the leading psychological service dedicated to the psychological well-being of the community in Myanmar. Marble provides a full range of professional psychological services for adults, children and organisations. Marble offers services for adults such as individual therapy, couples therapy and family therapy. For children, they offer services such as individual therapy, parent support and psychometric assessment. They also offer services for organisations such as employee assistance services, training and consultancy related to stress and well-being, and mental health.
Metanoia
Metanoia is a professional firm focusing on mental health and psychosocial support interventions. People can view their resources at their website. Metanoia has a variety of services such as psychiatric services, psychotherapy, lay counselling, psychological assessment, capacity building, consultancy services for organisations and so on. Metanoia also provides emotional support through Little Emotions Helpline (Khan Sar Chat Lay Myer Helpline) and it can be accessed at 09-961140000 for all SIM cards every Monday to Friday (between 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm).
Myanmar Clinical Psychology Consortium (MCPC)
Myanmar Clinical Psychology Consortium (MCPC) is a volunteer-based group of Myanmar and international mental health professionals and community partners. MCPC is not a mental health clinic and does not provide counselling or psychotherapy services, but counselling services can be accessed through MCPC alumni. These services are live online or can be arranged for in-person delivery if circumstances allow. They assemble an appropriate team for each project based on the organisation’s needs and available grant/fees.
Reach Out Myanmar
Reach Out Myanmar is an organization that provides psychological and consultancy services especially for population of Myanmar with affordable and accessible fees and mode. People can read psychological related articles at their website and Facebook page. Reach Out Myanmar provides services such as consultancy, Wellbeing at Workplace Program, psychological care, training and workshops.
Serenity
Serenity provides mental health and counselling services in Myanmar and can be contacted via email: or phone: 09-776884275. Serenity offers services such as counselling, mental health awareness training to organisations, psychosocial support training and basic counselling training, and Employee Assistance Program.
Well-Being Counselling and Psychological Services
Well-Being Counselling and Psychological Services is comprised of devoted professionals that can provide comprehensive counselling and psychological services to all levels of community in Myanmar. Well-Being provides services such as psychoeducation sessions, MHPSS trainings, workshops, consultancy services (customized) and counselling/therapy - individual, couple and group therapy.
