Public servants and mental health issues

Whereas mental health is globally gaining ground as a serious public health burden with a yearly commemoration on October 10, the focus has primarily been on clients, victims, and survivors of social problems such as wars, natural disasters and medical disease burdens. 

However, the mental health of general service providers is often neglected with a little exception of vicarious trauma that often affect people who interface with trauma survivors and related materials.  

Consequently, people end up blaming public servants, managers, leaders/politicians, and workers at Civil Society Organisations for poor service delivery, incompetence, low motivation, and toxic work environment yet good mental health of workers has a reciprocal contribution to better service delivery. Service delivery and citizens’ wellbeing are inseparable and interdependent. 

Apparently, the progressive efforts and quest by government for quality service delivery is gaining high momentum needed for services to reach the citizens up to grassroots with numerous vibrant initiatives being fronted to achieve progress (example-operation wealth creation and Parish Model).

Meeting the minimum standards of service delivery require pragmatic commitment and walking the talk of “Akuna muchezo”, the slogan that has seriously raised expectation of citizens high for better service delivery.  

It is regrettable that annually, a number of district leaders are blamed for returning unspent money for service delivery back to the national treasury.
 
Parliamentary and district scorecards on performance of elected leaders have made headlines on media and political campaign talking points about under or poor performers during the recent General Election in Uganda. 

Assessing mental health of workers and its interplay on service delivery has been a missing venture and, therefore, service delivery and citizens wellbeing bears the consequences. 

As a member of the Uganda Counseling Association (UCA) and an employee in an organisation that adores mental health services, I can attest that mental health is real at work places and many symptoms are labeled by managers as indiscipline. 

For example, there are ever or over complaining employees, some struggle with personal and occupational safety concerns, employee absenteeism rate and workers falling “sick” of unknown or undiagnosed ailments are eminent, many grapple with internal conflicts, instruction/directive issues, stress of workload and pressure, job technicalities, unresolved family or personal issues workers carry to their offices, financial and loan challenges and other normal day today stress. 

At the end of the day, their mental health which is the engine of productivity is greatly affected with resultant negative effect on poor service delivery. 

I, therefore, recommend the following; the relationship between mental health and employee productivity needs urgent exploration and analysis for deliberate action. 

Clinical, counselling and industrial psychologist should help leaders, managers, employers and employees understand better the interconnectivity between employee mental health and performance, and its interplay on service delivery. 

The public service commission, government ministries and departments should deliberate of better strategies for employee mental health by considering recruiting workers’ psychologists or crafting partnership with agencies such as the Uganda Counselling Association (UCA) to provide capacity building and psychological/psychosocial support to our gallant servants in Uganda with the motive of revamping service delivery. 
At a personal level, employees at formal and informal sectors should explore the need for professional help from psychologist.
 
Government leaders and parliament should support advancement of legislation and interventions that aims at promoting worker’s mental health to minimise level of interdictions and prosecution of employees whose unaddressed mental health concerns are responsible for their disciplinary action(s).

Mr Okot Benard Kasozi is a senior psychosocial research and advocacy officer at Refugee Law Project-Gulu office