Times are tough and people are facing various challenges ranging from financial to social. Pressures are in some instances so immense that the minds are numbed by overwhelming needs.
Constant worry often leads to stress or mental illnesses. Other people have sought relief in unhealthy habits that offer unsustainable coping mechanisms only to find oneself falling into deeper void.
It is at this point that psychosocial support becomes a vital tool for helping individuals regain control of their lives through guidance and emotional care.
This is what inspired 64-year-old Margaret Musyani, a retired teacher with 23 years experience, to found the Global Psychosocial Consultancy in 2008.
She calls it a calling, dedicated to training and counselling individuals, students and organisations across Malawi.
“When I was a teacher, students’ behaviour and performance concerned me a lot, but I had no clue how to help them,” recalls Musyani.
She later discovered the power of psychology, a field that in her words, answers many of the problems people go through.
That discovery inspired her to enrol for a Master’s degree in Guidance and Counselling at the University of Hebron in Lilongwe.
That decision marked the beginning of her 17-year journey in psychosocial counselling.
“After gaining the knowledge, I went back to the very students who had once troubled my heart. I wanted to impart this knowledge to help them improve academically and become more disciplined,” says Musyani.
As a passionate psychosocial counsellor, she recognised a crucial gap in the education system one that she had observed first-hand as a teacher.
“Teachers go to college to learn on how to teach, but students rarely receive any training on how to follow or learn effectively from their teachers,” she explains.
Musyani, a mother of five, notes that most students struggle to follow instructions, studying notes, or using the library.
Through her research, she developed a comprehensive approach to student learning, training them in effective listening, note-taking, study techniques and examination preparation strategies, including how to handle multiple-choice and structured questions.
The veteran teacher believes that children are social beings and whatever they go through in life impacts their mindset and behaviour.
“That’s why I also focus on behaviour. Whenever I conduct counselling sessions, I advise children, to normalise opening up on the issues affecting them instead of resorting to immoral behaviour as a way of coping,” says Musyani.
What started as an initiative focused solely on helping students has now grown into a broader mission that touches lives across different sectors of society.
Musyani offers psychosocial counselling and professional training to a wide range of individuals — from students and parents to church leaders and workplace teams.
Her services cover various critical areas including psychosocial support and counselling skills, burnouts in the workplace and church settings, effective communication in the family, peace building, customer care and job satisfaction and team building.
Says Musyani: “In terms of burnout, each person wants to be appreciated. That is the most important thing that when somebody does anything, that person looks out to find out, are people appreciating what I’m doing?
“So, if somebody doesn’t appreciate, that person becomes discouraged and it can also lead to burnout.”
She observed that there are people who work continuously without considering their health, a situation that leads to burning out.
Observes Musyani: “When people are always on the move, running up and down, wanting to make ends meet, it can also lead to burnout. Somebody should reach a point whereby the person should know his body to say that, I think I’ve worked a lot.
“People should be given a minute off to refresh their brain, it is only someone with sound mind that can deliver well what the job demands,” she adds.
Musyani notes that apart from training children, there is also need to involve parents.
She says this will help the parents to become advocates for good parenting.
“That is why we have organised a training under the theme: ‘Building Stronger Parent- Child’. Objectives of the training include enhancing communication skills, promoting positive parenting techniques and strengthening emotional intelligence to help parents and children and strengthen early identification and support for emotional distress,” says Musyani.
She wants to develop stronger child and parent relationships.
Argues Musyani: “It is the lack of good relationship with parents that makes children to depend on the peers whenever they face a problem.
“The advice they get from their peers cannot be all good. They are sometimes encouraged to indulge in immoral behaviour.”
She wants to instil a culture where the children feel safe and loved by their parents .
Any challenges so far?
“Yes,” she responds. “One of the challenges I have faced is that when I go out to market the concept of psychosocial support, it often feels like a new idea, especially in schools.
“While NGOs have been implementing psychosocial programmes for some time, schools have not yet fully embraced it, particularly when it comes to engaging consultants.”
Musyani says when she approaches schools to offer her services, she meets resistance from teachers who feel they are better placed to carry out the counselling.
However, her background as a teacher helps her recognise a gap in the education system. This motivates her to press on despite the resistance.
“One joyful thing now that people have accepted the idea. Positive outcomes from the training sessions bring joy to my soul.
“I have visited various schools and it is pleasing to not that the counselling has not only improved academic performance, but student behaviour,” she says.
When all is said and done, the psychosocial counsellor wants to be remembered as an advocate of love, integrity and respect among people.
“Each and every one has capabilities. People produce the best in them when they are treated with respect,” says Musyani.
She advises people that they should remind themselves from time to time that they are unique and capable.
“Each person has the potential to excel or to grow. We have people who are more skilled than us. So we can reach out to them so that they can help us with knowledge or experiences instead of trying to do it on our own,” says Musyani.
