Since March 2020, PetroChina has implemented work from home (WFH) policy for all Jakarta employees and the adjustment of rotation period for Jabung field employees. The sudden shift in our professional world, combined with personal changes and the world situation, might cause some mental distress for us.

In line with this, workers’ mental wellbeing became a concern for PetroChina management. To increase mental health awareness among employees, as part of company’s responsibility to take care of PetroChina people, the Human Resources Department teamed up with PetroChina Covid-19 Task Force Team and Iradat Konsultan to host “Mental Health Webinar: Being Wholesome in All Situations” for all Jakarta Office and Jabung Field employees.

The webinar takes place through Zoom meeting in seven sessions that began on June 16, 2021.

During his opening remark, Vice President Human Resources and Relations Dencio Renato Boele said that the management of PetroChina realized how changes in employees’ work life had created numerous challenges.

“Such challenging situations require workers to be more flexible, agile, persevering and resilient. These challenges affect us not only physically but also mentally. Everyone can struggle with mental health problems, such as stress, anxiety and depression in various degrees. Discussions on mental health is important to raise awareness and find out what to do if we or anyone we know is struggling with these,” he said.

The Health Ministry reported 277,000 cases related to mental health in 2020, an increase from 197,000 in 2019.

During the webinar, clinical psychologist Nessi Purnomo said that the pandemic had affected people’s mental wellbeing. According to Nessi, people with good mental health are confident, optimistic, comfortable with themselves, avoiding self-blame, have a purpose of life and possess self-esteem.

However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, there are numerous cases of people developing anxiety and fear of uncertain situations, bad temper, sleep problems, fatigue, and the drop of confidence.

“It is normal to experience those situations once in a while. But, if those symptoms keep happening, you probably need to follow up with the professionals,” she said.

Taking care of mental health was equally important with maintaining physical health, especially during the pandemic. “As mental health awareness is very important, we need to stop the stigmas related to mental health, belittle people with mental health issues and not recognizing the impact of mental health to overall wellbeing,” she said.

“Early detection of mental health will result in faster recovery. So if we experience several symptoms such as extreme sadness, lack of trust and spirit, and problems with our digestion system, we might want to take mental health checkup,” she said. “Do not self-diagnose. Mental health must be treated by professionals,” Nessi added.