Health Department, Haryana, starts counselling for government officials

New Delhi: With the intension of tacking stress and addressing the mental health issues of its employees, the health department of Panchkula has started organising workshops.

The department began its first phase of counselling on Friday, January 8, while the first round on trials was conducted on Monday, January 4. Dr MP Sharma, Head of Psychiatric Department at Civil Hospital, Panchkula, said that they have received permission and have begun to counsel with employees of the government hospitals and government offices. They will soon request for permission to counsel.

According to Dr Sharma, the idea bloomed during a conversation between the Health Department and Keshni Arora, former Chief Secretary of Haryana. While counselling was supposed to be a regular affair, with the pandemic in view, the requirement for the same was more than before. He added that every person is now facing increases fears and anxiety. People are on edge and they realised that such workshops were the need of the hour.

The counselling team constitutes three doctors, including a psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist and a psychiatric social worker. The session was conducted for class 2 employees, but will be extended for class 3 and class 1 employees as well.