MHM Magazine

20 May 2021 marked the first International Mental Health Action Day. This day is dedicated to drive people to take Mental Health Action for themselves and others. SADAG, alongside 1000+ organisations around the world, have partnered to change awareness into action. South Africa already had a mental health crisis before Covid-19. The pandemic has created new issues for millions and has exacerbated challenges for millions more. SADAG has seen the devastating impact the pandemic has had on mental health, especially for those who already had a mental health issue before lockdown. Covid-19 and the effects thereof, has caused much mental health strain for many who didn’t have mental health issues before the pandemic. With over 1500 calls per day, SADAG call volumes have doubled since lockdown and continue to rise. Key groups such as Healthcare Workers and NPOs have been hit particularly hard, emotionally and mentally during the pandemic, as they work longer, harder and with even less resources than most. Experts around the world have dubbed the mental health crisis as the second pandemic, and still our country doesn’t have a plan or strategy to help mitigate the mental health impact going forward. The State of Mental Health in South Africa is in crisis. We have been in crisis long before the Covid-19 pandemic and we still haven’t seen the kind of changes necessary to combat the mental health pandemic. The Life Esidimeni tragedy which was first reported on in 2015 is evidence of this. The Life Esidimeni tragedy saw 144 people die in the care of the public health system, with hundreds more who survived, still having to live with the trauma and emotional impact. As we delved deeper into the happenings of Life Esidimeni, we heard harrowing accounts of neglect, starvation, abuse and death of the most vulnerable individuals. These injustices shook us to our core to EDITORIAL By Cassey Chambers SADAG Operations Director office@anxiety.org.za No longer can we wait for government to fix the mental health system, we have been waiting for five years already and there hasn’t been much change REFLECTIONS ON LIFE ESIDIMENI AND SOUTH AFRICA’S MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS such an extent that five years later, it still sends chills down our spines. And yet, we have still not seen accountability, improvements in mental health services or the allocation of more resources. We still don’t have enough psychiatric beds, especially for adolescents and children. This fact is particularly concerning since adolescents are one of the most at-risk age groups for mental illness and suicide. We still get reports of medication stock-outs and lack of available Issue 3 | 2021 | MENTALHEALTHMATTERS | 1 MHM