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International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience | ISSN: 1522-4821 | Volume: 20
July 25-26, 2018 | Vancouver, Canada
Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing
14
th
World Congress on
Mental Health and Wellbeing
5
th
World Congress on
&
Para-counsellors: The soldiers in resolving women mental health problems
Farhtheeba Rahat Khan
SNV Netherlands Development Organization, Netherlands
Statement of the Problem:
Bangladeshi women garment worker starts at 4 am, cooks food in a common kitchen available for
4-5 families, goes to work at 7 am, and has a long work day till 7 pm, then is back to take care of her family and goes to bed
between 10-11pm. She has no time of her own, a victim of violence and work, her pain.
Methodology &Theoretical Orientation:
A lot of mental distress affect their work life, productivity and end up having a poor
quality of life. There structures within the address this issue. The management should start realizing that when psychosocial
challenges and issues go unaddressed, they impact workers’ effectiveness in the workplace. Fourteen welfare officers, who are
the first contact point for workers in the factory, were trained and mentored by certified trainers in counseling; and, 14 trained
para-counselors were institutionalized inside factory from December 2016.
Findings:
Interestingly, women center in the factory, on being referred to by the para-counselors. The latest record collected
as of 5th Jan 2017 reflects, 3 women came with anxiety and one of them had 4 sessions with the counsellor for mental relief; 3
women reported work stress and took 3 separate counselling sessions, others include conflict with supervisor, family conflict,
financial crisis, relationship issue and the resulted anxiety.
Conclusion & Significance:
The incidence report within this short duration of less than a month itself is the evidence for
counseling need and the vacuum in services. Still, in a factory where 600+ workers are employed this number is just minimal,
and the paraprofessionals have an important role to play to facilitate the workers them to the counselors.
Biography
Ms Farhtheeba Rahat Khan is a development professional with experience backed up by private sector interventions and development sector working realities and
challenges. As the lead of ‘Private Sector Health project’, Ms Khan undertook studies to understand private sector healthcare market dynamics and simultaneously
worked on the policy front with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and its directorates in addressing the supply side issues of the healthcare market. She pro-
vided technical assistance for the formulation of the policy framework, guidelines, and accreditation systems in the health training, and emphasized on avenues for
women employed in the health sector. Currently, Ms Khan is the Team Leader for the ‘Working with Women’ project implemented by SNV where she is facilitating
interventions in garment factories, following a gender sensitive and gender-specific approach to ensure equity in healthcare service provision for female garment
workers.
fkhan@snv.orgFarhtheeba Rahat Khan, IJEMHHR 2018, Volume: 20
DOI: 10.4172/1522-4821-C3-017