Counselling students from the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) facilitated a session on mental health in the workplace at Dhiraagu on 10 October 2024, as part of activities marking World Mental Health Day 2024.

The session was led by Mariyam Ifshan Ahmed and Afaa Mohamed and provided an opportunity for counselling students to engage with a workplace audience while promoting awareness of mental health and wellbeing in professional settings.

The session focused on the importance of workplace mental wellbeing and encouraged participants to consider healthy approaches to managing stress and maintaining emotional wellbeing in the workplace. By bringing mental health discussions into a professional environment, the activity contributed to broader awareness of the role workplaces can play in supporting the wellbeing of employees.

The initiative also provided valuable experiential learning for the counselling students involved. Facilitating a mental health education session enabled students to apply their academic knowledge in a real-world context while developing their communication, facilitation and public mental health education skills.

Community and workplace engagement activities such as this provide students with opportunities to translate counselling knowledge into accessible information for different audiences. They also support FHS’s commitment to developing graduates who can contribute to mental health promotion across diverse settings.

The activity contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being) through its focus on workplace mental wellbeing and healthy coping, and SDG 4 (Quality Education) by providing counselling students with practical opportunities to apply their knowledge and develop professional skills.