During the East African Mental Health Summit 2025 held in Kampala and organised by StrongMinds, a non-profit organisation, last week, mental health experts warned that corporate bullying, emotional neglect, and a lack of intentionality in employee welfare are fuelling a mental health crisis.
Because news of students in different institutions of learning grappling with mental health challenges is common in the media, it is easy to think that mental health only applies in certain spaces and to a particular age group.
However, it is pertinent that campaigns promoting mental health are targeted to the entire population with its various diversities. Just like the issue of gender sensitivity has been accorded due attention and sensitisation in all spaces, mental health should too.
Organisations must be seen to front the mental well-being of their workers, not as a favour but as a right.
This goes beyond having once in a year day of observance or a visiting mental health practitioner. It involves having organisational structures that support and promote the well-being of employees. This shouldn’t be left to a select few organisations but to all, regardless of ownership or size.
One of the speakers at the summit, Ms Goldy Obama, a mental health consultant from the Federation of Uganda Employers, pointed out the sad fact that corporate bullying is one of the most persistent but under-reported sources of psychological distress in Uganda’s professional spaces.
She also revealed that sexual harassment and toxic management styles remain rampant across many offices and often go unaddressed due to fear of retaliation.
She said: ‘Employee wellness is not charity. Investing in your people creates a healthier, more productive culture. Empathy should be part of your business.’
Many corporates spend the bulk of their time and productive years at their workplaces. They spend more time at the workplace than with their families. It therefore makes sense to accord them a non-toxic environment. This is not achieved by wishful thinking, however.
First, there must be awareness, sensitisation and then deliberate steps taken to create a healthy environment. Poor workplace structures only exacerbate the problem.
However, creating a healthy working environment is not only the responsibility of employers.
Employees play a major role, too, because, like many things in life, this too starts with the man in the mirror. At the summit, Elizabeth Okello, president of the Uganda Counselling Association, said.
‘Self-care is not selfishness. It is how you show up, how you speak, how you manage your emotions, and how you treat others. Emotional intelligence begins with being aware of your own triggers before judging others.’
It is seemingly small but consistent moves such as these that will see us deal with the mental health burden that is estimated at roughly 14 million Ugandans living with some form of mental disorder.