Doctors looks after us, but who looks after them?
Crazysocks4docs was founded by an Australian doctor, Geoff Toogood, who experienced both depression and anxiety. “The campaign seeks to help reduce the stigma associated with depression and ultimately decrease the high suicide rate among healthcare professionals by raising international awareness about the issue,” says Kristen Bent, manager at Netcare N1 City Hospital.
It is also commemorated on the first Friday of June. Bent says in honour of this day they set up marketing in the form of posters to create awareness about the day.
says Bent.
According to Bent, this initiative is important because there is a stigma attached to the struggles associated with the mental health of healthcare practitioners and many valued lives are lost year after year due to the challenges that they are facing.
“We need to break that stigma and encourage those to seek help and let them know there is a safe platform available where there will be no judgment. We also need to create awareness for those that are not healthcare practitioners, and that compassion needs to also be shown,” says Bent
