Scores of Crossroads residents gathered at Crossroads Community Hall on Friday 17 October during the mental health event hosted by the Crossroads Community Day Centre (CDC) and various local organisations.
Mental health nurse specialist sister Siziphiwe Dyasi from Crossroads CDC described October as mental health awareness month. She stated that everyone is affected by mental illness and stresses that it is high time for everyone to take care of themselves.
She said there are various ways on how people are affected by mental illness.
“It depends on the individual. But some of the symptoms are changes in mood and emotions like extreme sadness or anger, cognitive issues such as confused thinking or trouble concentrating and behavioral changes like social withdrawal, changes in sleep or eating habits and difficulty coping with daily life,” said Dyasi.
She urged people to stop labelling people who are mentally ill and instead they must take them to healthcare centres for treatment.
“There is no such thing as a mad person. We need to resist calling people names. Let’s try to empower ourselves with knowledge to be able to understand another person’s state of mind,” she pleaded.
Resident Phakama Wisani described the event as educational. She said she learnt a lot of things within a short period of time.
“For the black community, mental illness is a problem. People who have mental issues, we always refer them to the traditional healers. My grandmother died at the age of 88 years. She was talking to herself and sometimes she would mention names of people who died long ago and people were calling her a witch,” said Wisani.
She urged people to attend events like this as they are helpful to the community.
