Santa Casa Foundation conducts actions for Yellow September
The goal is to raise awareness and sensitize the importance of mental health in the workplace
The Santa Casa is carrying out a special program this month focused on Yellow September, a month dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of suicide prevention. The theme developed by the teams from the People Management Coordination and the People Development Coordination is: "Together for a good living at work," which aims to benefit the actions of the employees of one of the largest institutions in the state in the hospital area.
Yellow September emerged with the idea of breaking taboos, reducing stigmas, and encouraging people to seek and offer help. Since 2015, when the first edition took place, the movement has been growing with more people recognizing the importance of caring for mental health.
Gabriel Miranda, a nurse at the Santa Casa Foundation, reports that the program was designed with the employee in mind, valuing the mental health of this employee, where it is necessary to implement actions in reference to Yellow September. "Through the Well-Being program, from people management, we outlined strategies to reach this audience both in the auditorium and in the work areas. We also brought part of the program to the sectors."
"We started organizing the program in August to be able to execute the practices during this month, focusing on dynamics for mental health. With a dynamic of a very important theme, worked on at the moment, which is what I have inside me, I can express it outward. This dynamic brings our feelings, the need to speak while the other can actively listen to what I have to say. We also had a dynamic focused on empathy: putting oneself in the other's shoes and how this empathy is transformative in people's lives and can even save lives," highlights Gabriel.
Carolina Zahluth, a psychologist at Santa Casa do Pará, reports that this action is part of the Well-Being Program, which seeks the well-being and appreciation of the mental health of employees. "It is a program that involves several projects, and within these projects, People Management carries out actions to take care of and value the employees. We have various actions for both physical health, such as workplace gymnastics, and mental health, such as the support group for employees, which is a worker's health group that goes to the sectors with the highest absenteeism due to mental illness."
"We also have other actions, such as Casa Delas, which is aimed at women, since we represent 75% of the institution's workforce. In addition to various actions, such as 'Florescer,' which is a group aimed at people going through a grieving process," points out the psychologist.
Looking at the companions of patients - "For me, it was very important because accompanying my son hospitalized in the hospital is very difficult, it affects the psychological a lot, and these actions help us to talk about what we feel and distract our minds."
The testimony is from Larissa Souza, mother of Kendrik, who has been hospitalized for five months at Santa Casa. In addition to her son, Larissa is also the mother of two girls and had to leave Bragança, a city in the northeast of the state, where she lived with her family, to accompany her son.
Like Larissa, more than 40 companions of patients hospitalized in the wards and pediatric intensive care units of Santa Casa participated in actions aimed at mental health, with dynamics, discussion circles, and massage therapy sessions, among other activities. The program, which takes place throughout this month of September, is part of an academic project with the participation of nursing students from Uniesamaz, under the coordination of the pediatric nurse at Santa Casa, Sabrina Almeida.
"We see that, especially in pediatrics, the companions are very emotionally shaken, and sometimes the illness is more of an emotional, psychological, mental illness. So in light of this situation, we sought within Yellow September to take care of this part of mental health. As a nurse working in an internationally accredited hospital, I also see that it is important to ensure that students, the future health professionals who are still in academia, have this humanized perspective and see that we can contribute in many ways not only to our patient but also to those who are accompanying them, because they are part of the healing process of our patient," emphasizes Sabrina.
Suicide prevention - According to a study conducted by Unicamp, 17% of Brazilians have seriously thought about ending their own lives at some point, and of these, 4.8% have even developed a plan for it. In many cases, it is possible to prevent these suicidal thoughts from becoming a reality.
The first preventive measure is education. For a long time, talking about suicide was a taboo; there was fear of discussing the subject. Recently, especially with the success of the Yellow September campaign, this barrier has been broken, and information related to the topic has begun to be shared, allowing people to access prevention resources.
Psychologist Carolina Zahluth informs that Yellow September reinforces the suicide prevention campaign, which is closely related to mental health. "To bring this prevention to the workplace, it is essential to raise awareness and sensitize the care for mental health. We notice that the rates of absenteeism due to mental health, both in private and public companies, have increased significantly, especially in the post-pandemic period."
"Not to mention other types of illnesses that appear in medical certificates and hide mental illness behind them. So, we raise awareness among these people. Not only for them to seek self-care and show that we are offering resources for that, but also to sensitize and raise awareness, especially since many of these workers are parents, have teenagers, have children at home. Sometimes they have a sibling or a family member going through this situation, so we need to break this taboo, because nowadays suicide is still seen as a taboo; no one wants to talk about it because they find it sad, they find it heavy, but the more we talk about it, the more people will understand the signs and seek help or help someone in need," informs the psychologist.
The event's program is expected to reach employees and users in the areas of the Acolher Space and Parapaz by the end of this month.
