This year 2 500 fun and funky socks were distributed to students at ten medical campuses nationwide as part of a campaign to educate the public about mental health as a treatable disease. The socks were distributed by the Ithemba Foundation, in partnership with Cipla South Africa, as part of the local #CrazySocks4Docs campaign.
This is according to Prof Lizette Rabe, founder of the Ithemba Foundation. The Ithemba Foundation was founded with the aim to raise awareness and break down stigmas around mental health.
The focus of the campaign on medical campuses on 3 June, was to ensure that future carers learn to care for themselves while learning to become healthcare workers, said Rabe in written correspondence with MatieMedia.
People were encouraged to wear mismatched socks on the day as part of the awareness campaign around the mental health needs of all healthcare workers. This is according to the Ithemba foundation website.
Organisers behind the #CrazySocks4Docs campaign hope that it will raise awareness about the mental health of healthcare providers. “As medical practitioners, we are in a position where we’re making difficult decisions on a daily basis,” said Prof Elmi Muller, dean of the faculty of medicine and health sciences at Stellenbosch University (SU), during a #CrazySocks4Docs webinar on 3 June. Muller spoke about the “unprecedented impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on the healthcare system, particularly on the mental health and the wellbeing of healthcare workers”. The webinar was organised by the dean’s office and the Maties Alumni Office. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
Medical professionals and students: They are like everyone else
“Just like any other person, doctors can suffer from anxiety, burnout, anger, depression and could contemplate taking their own life,” said Prof Peter Raubenheimer, the head of the division of general medicine at the department of medicine at the University of Cape Town, in written correspondence with MatieMedia.
“The high-pressure nature of the job and some of the circumstances doctors are exposed to – not to mention working hours and often difficult working conditions, where rendering [the] best care is challenging – can leave doctors vulnerable [to mental health issues],” said Raubenheimer.
“I think we should normalise mental health issues but we should not normalise the struggle [of mental health issues],” said Catherine Berns, fifth year medical student and head of the student wellness portfolio in the Tygerberg Student Representative Council (TSRC) at Stellenbosch University. “[Students] shouldn’t normalise not sleeping, not taking care of ourselves, not going to exercise, [and] not eating properly.”
Catherine Bern, head of the student wellness portfolio in the Tygerberg Student Representative Council (TSRC) at Stellenbosch University, detailed the struggles that both medical and health sciences students face while at university. In an interview with MatieMedia, Bern said that wellness is a topic that the TSRC tries to address in all their portfolios. A wellness week is going to be planned later in the year, said Bern. AUDIO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
A R1 000 prize was also awarded to medical students with the most-liked “sock-selfie” with the #CrazySocks4Docs hashtag on their social media pages, added Rabe. The hashtag has accumulated over 10 000 posts on Instagram.
Funky socks for docs
The global #CrazySocks4Docs campaign started as a Facebook post seven years ago, containing a picture of odd-coloured socks, and with the aim of trying to break the stigma felt by a medical professional with a mental health issue. This is according to founder and chair of the #CrazySocks4Docs campaign and Australian cardiologist, Dr Geoffrey Toogood.
“I was targeted behind my back due to the mismatched and colourful socks. They thought it was [a] sign of me being unwell,” said Toogood in written correspondence with MatieMedia. He said the word “crazy” was used. “It was superficial and lacking compassion in a medical profession when it should have been better,” said Toogood.
The #CrazySocks4Docs campaign has been a major project of the Ithemba Foundation for three years. After supporting it informally in 2017 and 2018, the foundation realised that it was a huge issue within the healthcare environment and eventually partnered with socks company Falke and Cipla in 2019, according to Ithemba founder Prof Lizette Rabe. Cipla, who donated the socks and is one of the biggest manufacturers of mental health products within South Africa, acknowledged its role and responsibility as a company to support those with mental health issues and create awareness surrounding such problems, said Paul Miller, chief executive officer of Cipla Medpro. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim.
*MatieMedia is an independent student-run publication managed by students at the journalism department of Stellenbosch University. Prof Lizette Rabe is the head of the department.