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12 October 2020
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Story Dr Cindé Greyling
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Photo Supplied
Exercise and nutrition can work wonders for your mental health – you don’t even have to ‘feel like’ or ‘enjoy’ moving around and eating well for it to work – it does its thing anyway.
Nowadays, people talk about mental health like it is the common cold – which is good! But do you know what it really means? Being mentally healthy does not only refer to the absence of a mental illness but includes your emotional and social well-being. One would almost want to add physical well-being too, since a healthy body does indeed support a healthy mind. However, since so many people consider themselves ‘mental health experts’, some myths have been sold as truths.
Myth #1 – You are doomed.
Nope. Never. You are never doomed. There is always help. Mental-health therapies range from self-help, talk therapy, medication, to hospitalisation in some cases. Somewhere on this spectrum of treatments, there will be something that works for you. But you must be willing to get the help and do the work. For starters, exercise and nutrition can work wonders – you do not even have to ‘feel like’ or ‘enjoy’ moving around and eating well for it to work – it does its thing anyway.
Myth #2 – It won’t affect you.
It may. Research suggests that one in five people may suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives. Being well now does not mean that it will stay that way. Biological and environmental factors both impact your mental health. Hopefully not, but at some point, you may experience an event that affects your mental health.
To remain integrated in a community is always beneficial
for anyone suffering from a mental or physical condition.
Myth #3 – Someone struggling with mental health must be left alone.
Hardly! To remain integrated in a community is always beneficial for anyone suffering from a mental or physical condition. You do not need to fix them, but to remain a friend. Continue to invite them, even if they decline. Do not judge, and do not try to understand. Just stay around.
Go and be kind to yourself, and to those around you.
UFS law researcher part of international project to produce human trafficking reference book
2017-03-17
Trafficking in Persons has been in the spotlight as an ever-growing crime around the world. Research being done in South Africa by various universities over the years has yielded results that are internationally recognised.
Part of this work has been done by Prof Beatri Kruger, Research Associate at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of the Free State (UFS), who has been involved in research that has created awareness around the world on various methods of human trafficking in Africa. She is currently working on co-authoring a chapter in the International Handbook on Human Trafficking to be published by Palgrave, the first of its kind and a major reference work in this field, with Marcel van der Watt, a lecturer at the University of South Africa (Unisa) Department of Police Practice. The reference book is a massive international project that will have more than 60 international contributors and will be published in 2018.
Contribution to international research
The chapter is titled: Breaking bondages: Methods to control victims, ‘Juju’ and human trafficking. It explores the methods used by Nigerian and other West African traffickers, namely “juju” rituals, to subdue their victims for sexual exploitation in various parts of the world. The chapter further charts various physical, financial and the psychological control mechanisms, essential in establishing an informed counter-trafficking global response.
The book and other research being done is a step in the right direction in further understanding specific practices, and can be used to augment international research, support the work of NGOs, law enforcement agencies and individuals who work with victims worldwide, to be able to understand the tools used by perpetrators, and to stop the crime from growing.
Prof Kruger said there were new opportunities at the research division of the UFS Centre for Human Rights to explore human rights violations that occur in human-trafficking scenarios, thus contributing towards more efficient strategies to combat this crime.