My co-worker has been acting strange of late, I believe she is suicidal

Caroline Mboijana. PHOTO/FILE 

What you need to know:

  • This is a very sensitive matter and you need handle it as carefully as possible. Your first instinct may lean towards informing HR, however you should bear in mind that your colleague has come to you and has confided in you her thoughts, fears and anxiety.

Dear Caroline,
About a week ago, a co-worker started talking about her death and how people may react and other things of a kind. I believe my colleague is suicidal. Unfortunately though, we don’t seem to have any psychological support for such situations at the workplace, even when I have talked to the human resource, I am yet to get a response. What can I do? Emily.
 
Dear Emily,
This is a very sensitive matter and you need handle it as carefully as possible. Your first instinct may lean towards informing HR, however you should bear in mind that your colleague has come to you and has confided in you her thoughts, fears and anxiety.

It’s important to recognise during the last 7-9 months many people have had to stay at home, be away from the office environment and many have certainly limited the amount of interaction with friends and family.

This change in our social behaviour has had an impact on our mental wellbeing. While you may not professionally be qualified to address her dilemma, there are a few things you can do. I would initially take time to talk to her and understand why she has these thoughts; determine whether she’s having challenges at home or she has problems that she cannot solve on her own.

Asking these questions may cause her to share the context of her situation and in doing so you’ll get a clearer picture of her situation. Depending on the issues shared, you may find you can help in certain areas and a solution may be as simple as having coffee once a week.

In other cases, she may need professional help.
Where there is need for professional help, you’ll want to raise it with HR however you must ask for your colleague’s permission to have her case shared with HR for their support.  

In regard to setting up a support system for the entire organisation, the HR team needs to be aware of the current issue of mental well-being given the changes in the world of work as a result of Covid.

You may want to conduct some research on the issue and share your findings with solutions with the HR team. They may need support in addressing the matter and you can be a driver to introducing Employee Assistant program. Solutions can be managed in a phased a manner allowing for management of costs associated with implementations while concurrently supporting staff. Good luck

Caroline Mboijana,
Managing Director,
The Leadership Team (U)
[email protected]