Lefaso.net: Can you introduce yourself?
Messingue Jean: I am a Jesuit clinical psychologist, director of COPAC which is a Jesuit university center for the promotion of mental health and well-being in Africa, particularly in West Africa. We offer skills-building training in mental health, we train graduates in front-line psychological support and carry out humanitarian and community actions in mental health. Mental health for all in Africa is the raison d’être of COPAC.
What do you mean by mental health?
Mental health is a state in which a person feels good about themselves. It is when a person is in possession of his resources to carry out his daily tasks by coping effectively with ordinary difficulties and leads a life which contributes to the well-being of others.
This year’s theme is “Mental Health at Work”. How do you appreciate this?
Mental health is a big concern in the world of work. There is, for example, stress related to work, traffic, workload. The absence of psychological support services within companies is a concern. At COPAC, we have a program called employee well-being and mental health. Our training programs are based on these conditions. We believe that the quality of mental well-being determines the improvement of the performance and productivity of workers. We also believe that workers are fully invested in the company when it takes care of their well-being.
Emotional and relational competence are as important as professional competence. The quality of leadership and management inevitably determines the quality of the teams and the achievement of results. To boost and support companies in taking mental health into account, we offer psychological assessment services, personal well-being development programs, programs to improve stress reduction strategies at work, to strengthen employee resilience and mental health.
Can you tell us about the celebration of World Mental Health Day?
World Mental Health Day was established in 1992 to combat the stigma of mental health. The initial objective was to raise awareness among populations so that they normalize psychological suffering as a health problem and seek mental health services. Mental health is falsely identified with faith and psychological suffering such as depression with weakness. It is a health problem that anyone facing an ordeal can endure.
What meaning does this World Mental Health Day mean for countries in crisis like Burkina Faso?
Although the fight against mental health stigma is relevant for all countries, World Mental Health Day should have a whole new meaning in countries in crisis like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. For populations affected by terrorism and war, celebrating World Mental Health Day should involve three things.
First, the call to strengthen psychological and psychosocial crisis intervention to alleviate the psychological and moral suffering of people affected in various ways by the crisis. In several African countries, thousands of children, women and men have suffered or been exposed to acts of torture. Others lost everything, some still fled their homes. But very few benefit from psychological or psychosocial interventions.
Secondly, such a day of reflection on the promotion of mental health in a crisis context is a call to act in favor of community mental health through the strengthening of individual, community and social resilience.
Finally, World Mental Health Day is an opportunity for a country in crisis to remind the whole world, particularly international organizations, that violence, wars and terrorism are the main roots of mental health problems in Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that mental health is an emergency in Africa even though it is the condition for sustainable development.
What is your approach at COPAC level in this fight?
COPAC’s approach is to offer training to strengthen the skills of community agents, social workers and professionals for better consideration of well-being and mental health in all activities and at all levels. . We also provide support to vulnerable people by offering them therapeutic listening spaces and by offering them food that we collect from others.
It is solidarity that can save us; this value dear to Africa must be expressed more. COPAC now has front-line psychological support professionals in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal and Ivory Coast. This African network allows us to provide psychological support to the populations of these countries who request our services.
Interview conducted by Serge Ika Ki
Lefaso.net
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