The mental healthcare system in South Africa needs to be completely transformed to make it more accessible to the youth, and to adequately fight mental-health issues.
This was heard during the 7th Tsietsi Mashinini Memorial Lecture, held at the Morris Isaacson High School in Soweto.
Proceedings below:
The theme of this year’s lecture was; “Exploring The Impact of Mental Health and It’s Effect on Society and The Youth of Today”.
On the 16th of June 1976, Tsietsi Mashinini interrupted the school assembly to lead the first group of students out of the gates and on the march that started the Soweto uprising, protesting against the use of Afrikaans in schools.
This year’s lecture was delivered by psychiatric specialist, Dr Kagisho Maaroganye.
“Mental literacy should be the start of any suicide prevention programme. Young persons, their associates and parents should be aware of signs of depressions, fatigue, insomnia and self blame and warning signs of depression.
Our suicide prevention system should also include systematic preventative mental healthcare transforming the mental healthcare system and community and interventions. This transformed metal health care system should be accessible to all vulnerable individuals including first year university students.”
