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UAE: 'The mentl.space live' podcast addresses mental health in the workplace

The episode about employee empowerment was recorded with a live audience in Dubai Harbour

Thoughts are dangerous things. “Your thoughts dictate your feelings, and your feelings dictate your behaviour, which you justify because you go back to thought,” explained Marisa Peer, therapist and bestselling author of books including I Am Enough: Mark Your Mirror And Change Your Life. She was part of an episode of the podcast the mentlspace live, which was recorded on October 28 with a live audience at L’Amo Bistro Del Mare in Dubai Harbour. The panel of speakers included Dr Nahida Nayaz Ahmed, Chief Medical Officer, Sakina, and motivational speaker and wellbeing advocate May Sayed Ali. Scott Armstrong, Founder of mentl.space, hosted the event.

The tagline of the podcast was 'Tear Away The Silence', and revolved around mental health in the workplace.

Dr Ahmed pointed out that efforts to address mental health in the workplace have been an ongoing project in the UAE; this year, Dubai Health Authority issued a Mental Health Law that makes it illegal for employees to discriminate against employees with mental health issues. The UAE also launched a Dh105 Million Mental Health Framework. She said when addressing healthcare, one must also look at mental wellbeing. “[Ignoring it] in the workplace that has its own repercussions. People are dropping out of workforce or not being productive, and there's a lot of issues with absenteeism and lack of productivity for big corporates and organisations,” she added. “One of the things that as a government, we are focused on is building that whole pathway. So we start off with awareness, promotion, education, improving mental health literacy.”

She went on to explain that rehabilitation doesn’t end when a mental health programme does, it is important to reintegrate people into society. “What the government is focused on is the journey to make sure that this individual finishes the treatment and has an opportunity go back and reintegrate,” she explained.

It’s time to stop thinking on mental health as a “dirty word”, added Peer, explaining that the negativity that comes with labels do not help anyone. She explained that studies point to three things causing depression: feeling disconnected, a lack of meaning and purpose in life, and feeling like they’ve not made an impact. “A good company would say, ‘How can I meet all the needs of my employees? Can they feel they've got something that gives them meaning and purpose? Do they feel they're contributing?’”

It is therefore important to address the root cause of the problem rather than the depressive symptoms. Being in a place where you feel like you belong and you matter, can help you be resilient, even if you do feel low sometimes.

The podcast also discussed the fact that sadness and depression are two different things.

Sayed Ali, meanwhile, spoke about the need to be authentic on social media. “I always tell people, ‘Share how you're feeling, talk to somebody at work that you can be vulnerable with. You don't have to be vulnerable with the world… but you have to have one person at work that you can trust, that you can go back to.”

At the workplace, we have to create that safe space where we can talk about our vulnerability, they add.

So how does one empower people in the workplace? “The simplest thing that we could do, and the most basic and fundamental thing for people to feel safe is to provide kindness. And that is like just going back to the basics, teaching people to be kind to each other, like rephrasing their words, rephrasing their attitude towards each other,” says Dr Ahmed.

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