Description:
October 10 is World Mental Health Day. Working in high-stress environments and witnessing human suffering can take its toll, even on the most-experience field workers. In this episode of MSF Pulse we look at how we make sure all our staff members have access to mental health care and counseling.

Script:
Doctors Without Borders delivers care to some of the world's most vulnerable people.

Working in high-stress environments and witnessing human suffering can take its toll, even on the most-experience field workers.

When confronted with the suffering of patients it's easy for aid workers to feel like they shouldn’t complain about their own challenges.

But without healthy and well-rested team members, we wouldn't be able to help people who need us most.

That’s why it’s important for our caregivers to have access to care themselves.

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We make sure all our staff members have access to care and counseling through psycho-social counselling experts when they're working in the field.

And, access to care does not stop when they finish working with us.

We also offer counselling to our field staff once they return home.

For many international aid workers, the biggest challenge can be about readjusting to life back home, often because few friends or family understand the struggles they experienced in the field.

But speaking about it can help, and we encourage our international field workers to share their experiences or speak with professional counsellors.

In fact, speaking out about what we witness is a crucial part of our work.

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Being part of a Doctors Without Borders front-line medical project can be incredibly rewarding work.

It's about taking a direct role in the alleviation of suffering of people trapped in a humanitarian crisis.

Without the contribution of each aid worker, we wouldn't be able to save those lives or alleviate the suffering of those who need it most

That is why we need to take good care of our aid workers, to help them take good care of others.

Keywords:
helicopter, high stress, field workers, healthy team, care for caregivers, psychosocial care, readjustment, speaking out, ebola clothes