On Wednesday, 20 July 2021, the University’s Employee Health and Wellness Section of the Human Resources Department organised an informative Psychosocial Wellness session: Trauma Management. This informative and educational Psychosocial Wellness Session took place on Microsoft Teams and was organised for all staff members.
Mr Andre Viljoen from Careways
As the facilitator of this Health Session, Mr Andre Viljoen from Careways highlighted that we have been living with COVID-19 for almost 18 months and its impact will be with us for many years to come. He said COVID-19 has an impact on our mental state and the way we burry our people who passes away due to COVID-19 complications also affects our psychological being. “Deaths caused by COVID-19 are unbelievable, you can talk to a person now and the next thing you hear that the same person has passed on.”
Mr Viljoen further highlighted that there are many dimensions of wellness, and those dimensions include Social, environmental, financial, spiritual, vocational, emotional, physical, and mental health.
He mentioned that it is difficult to accept the situation but the sooner we manage to accept the situation, the better the results. He said if countless people were able to bounce back to live a normal life after trauma, then everyone could do it. Mr Viljoen also mentioned that most people managed to bounce back because they had accepted situations.
“Be resilient. We cannot change the situations that we all go through, but we can change our behaviour towards such situations.” Mr Viljoen advised attendees not to worry about things that they cannot change, instead, they should worry about things that they have control of and that they should change their thinking and their reactions towards situations that they cannot change.
He advised attendees to be open with people they trust and talk about how they feel. “Look after your body; be active and eat healthy food; help other people or contribute to things you believe in; learn new skills every day; express yourself creatively and spend time with people you care about,” he said.
Advocate Rudzani Makhema, Head: Employee Relations thanked attendees and encouraged staff members to attend sessions like this because they are organised for them to improve their health and wellbeing. Adv Makhema further advised staff members to call Careways and use its services when they need help because these services are being paid for by the University. Services include Counselling (telephonic or face to face sessions), Legal (Legal advice not representation), Financial (Coaching, budgeting, and debt advice) and My Wellness Compass (Selection of interactive self-assessment tools). The above services could be accessed through the following telephone number: 0800 004 770.
Issued by:
Department of Marketing, Branding & Communication
University of Venda
Tel: (015) 962 8525 /8710
Date: 26 July 2021
