But if this is how one feels day after day, it can be a red flag that something is wrong. Therefore, it is important to consider the significance of mental health. It is easy to overlook mental health when everything is fine, but knowing the symptoms can assist with unexpected challenges.Although a certain level of stress can help maintain concentration to meet deadlines and manage challenging work situations, excessive stress can adversely affect an individual's health and hinder their performance in the workplace.
Anyone can have mental issues, but that does not mean they have a mental illness. The stigma around mental health often results from a lack of understanding or a misconception about mental illness.Understanding mental health issues provides insight into why individuals experience symptoms, how these symptoms affect their daily lives, and how to address these issues.A greater awareness about mental health is important as it reduces the stigma, boosts productivity, lowers societal costs, improves relationships, and enhances quality of life.
In 2025, cellar assistants participating in the South Africa Wine Cellar Assistants’ Programme will have the opportunity to attend workshops which will increase their knowledge about red wine cultivars. These workshops will feature a presentation by Greta Grobler, an independent registered social worker, discussing the significance of mental health awareness and practical solutions.
According to Greta, fear of stigma often prevents people, especially men, from seeking help for mental health issues, leading to ongoing silent suffering. A person’s mental health can change at any stage of their life due to a dramatic change in life events, including increasing old age and resulting introspection, affecting their thought patterns and behaviour. Therefore, healthy coping skills are important that an individual should apply when experiencing negative mental symptoms. These skills help one to take control over thoughts, feelings, and behaviours which are negatively impacting one. Recognizing the importance of mental health is the first step toward promoting healthy well-being and preventing negative outcomes. Mental and physical health are related but typically assessed separately; for example, anxiety and stress can lead to high blood pressure, headaches, and a loss of appetite. Mental illness is a medical condition, and early intervention and treatment may help prevent chronic health issues.
Work can play a huge role in one’s overall health and welfare. In addition to the financial benefits, one’s career can add meaning, structure, and purpose to one’s life. It can also provide one with a sense of identity and bolster one’s self-esteem.
The issue of mental health in the workplace has received significant attention in recent years, as mental health isvital to safety in the workplace. In a world driven by deadlines, mental health in the workplace has become an important aspect of overall well-being.However, mental health well-being frequently receives less attention compared to physical safety. Poor mental health can lead to a range of challenges, including decreased productivityand strained relationships, including increased mental risks and disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Poormental health can impair focus and decision-making, with a strong possibility of increased workplace accidents.
The challenge lies in being able to identify when employees have changed frompositive mental well-being tonegative well-being and implementing measures proactively to help them manage difficult, stressful periods. Mental health challenges can impact work performance, in turn harming a person’s life and livelihood and affecting relationships of all kinds. These issues can influence workplace productivity, including the possible cause of inferior performance and misconduct. Unaddressed mental health issues, such as stress or burnout, can lead to absenteeism, reduced productivity, and the potential to cause workplace incidents.It is important to acknowledge that, although burnout is not an official medical diagnosis, it is a prevalent form of work-related stress. When employees encounter stress, some may turn to substance use as a method of coping. Resilience can help one manage feelings of stress, anxiety, and hopelessness that may arise from work-related or personal issues. However, it requires effort to build and maintain resilience over a period.
Greta says: "It is important to strike a healthy balance, to take time to relax, to recharge, and to switch off. It is also important to take care of oneself, getting enough quality sleep, eating a healthy, nutritious diet, regularly exercising, and spending quality time with loved ones, can make an enormous difference in one’s mental health. Unfortunately, technology plays a huge role in our mental health and makes it easy to work 24/7. We need to learn to take time off from technology and to “unlearn” to be available 24/7 by establishing healthy boundaries. We need to “re-learn” to be “in-the-moment” in our personal lives at home."
Cellars should encourage employees to prioritize self-care activities that promote stress reduction, including a healthy lifestyle and fostering meaningful connections with friends, family, and colleagues who can offer support and understanding. Developing mutually supportive relationships with one’s coworkers and working together as a team can help ease stress and bolster one’s mood at work.
However, it is also important to find meaning in one’s work, and even if one does not love one’s job, one can still find ways to derive meaning and purpose in the work one does. By prioritizing both mental health and workplace safety, we can make the workplace a safer place in which everyone can thrive.
For more information about the South Africa Wine Cellar Assistants’ Programme, please contact Santi Basson at santib@mweb.co.za or 072 299 8186.