Omusati Regional Council has called for all Offices, Ministries, and Agencies (OMAs) to observe a Public Service Awareness-Raising Campaign on mental health and suicide prevention.

The council held its awareness-raising engagement to equip employees with the knowledge and coping strategies to manage mental health challenges. Deliberations pointed to a lack of compassion at workplaces as the root cause of mental health.

Director of General Services in the Omusati RC, Modestus Senalye, said, "We are here to break that silence today, to talk about life struggles and, of course, our shared responsibility that we all have to build a more compassionate society.

Suicide affects many cycles, those who suffer from despair and depression, those left behind to grieve and those who knowingly or unknowingly contribute to pain through stigma, discrimination or unkindness."

The senior social worker in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Elizabeth Shilyomunhu, talked about some of the coping strategies staff members can use when confronted by mental health challenges.

"If you are always thinking about bad things, do you think you are going to be happy? And if you are not happy, do you think you are going to act well? How you think affects how you feel, and how you feel affects how you act, so if you want to act in a manner that is acceptable, we have to start with what is in our brain."