BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

DEPRESSION and struggling with work performance are among the most common problems plaguing civil servants in Brunei.

Public Service Department (PSD) counselling officer NorSuzilawati Abdul Rahman revealed this in a presentation during a visit by the Prisons Department to the PSD yesterday.

“Most of our clients are civil servants and the most common problems they encounter are related to discipline, depression and work performance,” she said.

“Depression may stem from many factors... economy, family and so on. Usually when someone is experiencing depression, it shows on their appearance. They are unorganised and they behave differently. If the person is talkative, he will talk less and prefer silence. He will overthink,” said NorSuzilawati.

“A few cases have been recorded since 2005 up until November this year. It may sound like we received (a small number of) clients, but a single case may take up to several months (to diagnose) as we need to know every single detail of our clients so that we can understand them (thoroughly),” she said.

Fellow PSD counselling officer Sofiarizan Sofiawani Abd Ghani told The Brunei Times that depression could give rise to many other problems.

“Every issue may be related with each other. Depression could be the reason why someone did not come to work and this can indirectly lead to more problems such as lack of attendance or discipline,” she said.

The visit was led by the director of counselling services of PSD, Md Murad Hj Paijan, and by acting director of the Prisons Department, Hj Ismail Hj Murat.

After the presentations, Md Murad invited Hj Ismail to tour their main area of counselling activities.

The visit hoped to provide the recently set up Counselling Service Division of the Prisons Department with the opportunity to observe and learn from other counselling agencies.

The division was established on January 30 this year with the primary objective of helping former inmates cope with the challenges they may face after release from prison.

“Apart from strengthening ties between both counselling divisions, we were also able to gain more knowledge on counselling, especially counselling in Islam,” said Pg Omar Pg Hj Othman, senior counselling officer from the Prisons Department.

The Brunei Times