Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1414163
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 SEPTEMBER 2021 INTERVIEW All the lonely people… The Foundation for Social Wel- fare Services has just come out with its annual report for the year 2021 – a year that was dominated by the Covid-19 pan- demic. On the basis of this re- port: what can you tell us about how the crisis actually affected our society, in terms of mental health? Let's start with this: even before the pandemic, all the research was showing that mental health issues were on the increase. About four years ago, it was esti- mated that around 'one in four' of the population was liable to suffer from some form of mental health problem or other. At the end of 2019, there was some research published suggesting that it was even going to increase to 'one in three'. And that was before Cov- id-19… Nonetheless, the pandemic ob- viously didn't help. It did drive people 'up the wall', so to speak. Even here, at our offices, our em- ployees had to juggle their work responsibilities, with working from home. And I can confirm – as FSWS CEO: and therefore, the guy who had send out all the memos to our (mostly young) staff… to remind them that 'work from home' is still 'work' – it wasn't easy. And if it wasn't easy for us, as a national agency catering for so- cial welfare… one can only im- agine how much harder it must have been for everyone else. For instance: many teachers – I would say practically all of them, in fact – did a fantastic job of giving their lessons online. But it still meant that there was a great- er expectation on parents, to – at minimum – make sure that their kids were not playing on the in- ternet, rather than following the lesson… And of course, those parents also had their own jobs, and household duties, to attend to: on top of all this new pressure. So the pandemic did, undeniably have an effect. It caused a shift in the way people live and work… which, after a few months, start- ed becoming difficult to accept. It took time for people to adjust to this new reality; and it also meant that people had to learn a whole new skill-set: in a very short time, and under very diffi- cult circumstances. Don't get me wrong: I'm not ar- guing against the concept of 're- mote working' as a whole. There is, at the end of the day, a lot to be said for the possible benefits of working from home… or even the need to change our life-work routines in general. But it all takes its toll, ultimately… As mental health frontliners, however, the FSWS is in a posi- tion to quantify the effects of all this pressure. Was there, for in- stance, any noticeable increase in the number of people using FSWS services, over the course of the pandemic? Let me put it this way: towards the end of March 2020 – at the beginning of the pandemic - we introduced what we call the 'loneliness helpline'. In the first six months, we received around 6,000 calls… from people – most- ly elderly – who just wanted to chat. In recent months, that rate has gone down considerably: pre- sumably, because people are now going out more, as a result of re- strictions being lifted. But still: during the first six months of the pandemic, we were receiving around 1,000 calls a month… from people who are basically lonely. People who are in solitude. And if you ask me: that says a lot. Because in a small country like ours – where, let's face it, we so often complain that people are too 'intrusive'… where everybody lives on top of each other, and where it is so difficult to live in privacy… it turns out that there are 6,000 people, who called a helpline just to be able to talk to someone. To have a chat, with anyone, about nothing in par- ticular… This shows us that, in spite of whatever we say, and whatev- er we think about ourselves as a society: this little island of ours is changing… How much of this change is di- rectly attributable to Covid-19, though? Reason I ask is that the perception you alluded to there – of Malta as a small country, where everyone knows each other; and where there is a strong tradition of close fami- ly networks, etc. – all that has been changing for a long time now… Yes, it has. To give you an ex- ample: I myself live in Haz-Zeb- bug. Not that I am originally from Haz-Zebbug, mind you. My wife is… but as for me, I'm a 'Belti, minn Tas-Sliema'. All the same, I live in Haz-Zebbug – and I was even its mayor, in what feels like another lifetime – and as such, I can confirm that there is still a strong sense of community, in that village. But it is undeniably chang- ing. The main road leading in- to Zebbug, for instance – 'Gate Avenue', 'Vjal il-Helsien'… call it what you will – is all being pulled down. The 'Zebbugin' are selling their family homes, and building apartment blocks instead. Now: I don't want to digress into oth- er issues… but one of the con- sequences of all this new devel- opment – apart, of course, from the effects of construction itself: noise, dust, disruptions, etc. - is that… people no longer 'know everybody' in their towns or vil- lages, like they used to. People now have complete strangers, liv- ing in the same apartment block, or down the same street… I'm only giving this as an exam- ple of how the social landscape is changing: because if it's happen- ing even in the core of Malta's more traditional villages… just imagine, how much it is happen- ing in places like Sliema, St Ju- lian's, Gzira… But what effect are these chang- es having on – for instance – the Covid-19 has arguably brought about greater awareness of mental health issues than ever before. But it may also have exposed the limits of our country's ability to actually cope with the phenomenon. ALFRED GRIXTI, CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, stresses that mental health has to be dealt with where it matters most: at community level Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt JAMES BIANCHI