Elzabe Opperman the Founder and Managing Director of The Talking Point Group has some thought-provoking statements and answers to a few questions with regard to MENTAL HEALTH AND MEDIATION SERVICES they offer to various industries.
The Talking Point Group was founded in 2017 and has since developed an array of innovative integrated support services and cost-effective solutions to support the mental health of all its clients. Being a B2B business they offer assistance 24/7/365 to help clients cope with anxiety, stress, trauma, bereavement, feeling overwhelmed, adapting to new environments, relationship matters, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by issues relating to relationships, divorce, parenting, crime, financial difficulties, job losses, and now the after-effects of COVID-19.
What are these support services you offer?
‘We offer our integrated support services to the security, education, retail, transport, banking, agriculture and insurance industries either on a standalone basis or embedded into an existing program. We challenge and disrupt the industry because we encourage utilisation to ensure our clients know that they have these services available to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and we support it even further by developing educational and marketing material to educate and address the stigmas around mental health and to emphasise the enormous benefits of mediation.“, says Elzabe.
Treating mental health as a tick-box item in your business is counterproductive to fostering a healthy and supportive work environment. Many organisations may not understand the significance of mental health or the prevalence of disorders among their employees and presenteeism is a ‘real thing’ ………. many employees will be there in body but not in mind. So, start by teaching yourself and your leadership team about workplace mental health and include it in your strategy and you will be surprised to see that the positive outcomes will make a difference on your bottom line.
One of your core service pillars to clients is mediation, how does this fit into your offering?
Mediation and mental health go hand-in-hand. Mediation can improve the future for many reasons: ‘It ends the problem and not the relationship’, however, family law mediation does not always involve ‘saving a marriage.’ It can help couples overcome and terminate the problem, not their relationship (particularly if they have children). Mediation can be used for any type of dispute: family, workplace, commercial, and medical, not only marital ones, and gives hope for the future in the following way:
- Encourages parties to actively participate in problem-solving.
- Fosters open communication and solutions.
- Equips individuals with vital dispute resolution skills.
- Mediating might be less acrimonious and emotionally draining than going to court.
- Mediators offer customised solutions that regular legal systems may not offer.
- Mediation can better maintain and enhance relationships.
- Mediation is more cost-effective than litigation, which can cause financial stress.
- Workplace mediation prevents you from having to go to the CCMA.
The loss of a relationship impacts all the parties involved and mental health support is a natural next step in ensuring that the relationship which often involves ongoing contact, can continue once the problem has been addressed. Your business culture benefits greatly from mediation as communication channels are open for all parties to contribute to finding the solution.
The Talking Point believes in #Human1st and your 24/7/365 support platform has a human on the other side, can a bot not do the same?
Humans have the ability to empathise with the users, particularly in emotionally charged situations. Our team can tailor solutions to needs and can adjust to unexpected client concerns. They are professional and accredited and possess talents for evaluating circumstances, making judgments, and generating creative solutions. Clients experiencing anxiety or grief when losing a loved one are more comfortable trusting and being supported when language nuances, idioms, and cultural variances are managed, AI may struggle with this.
Human support does have limits: 24/7/365; and although our team is trained and accredited our support systems are world-class. We impact human lives and mitigate all risks the best we can! We use our world-class system and AI to analyse large amounts of data to discover trends, enabling proactive responses and service enhancements. But AI-powered bots have limitations. Bots struggle to comprehend and empathise with customers' emotions. They may struggle with complex subjects or language nuances. They may make mistakes, misinterpret the event being reported, and deliver inaccurate information.
Our solution is therefore the best of both worlds. Our ListenUp system uses professionals with the backup of a reporting system providing useful data analysis and initiative-taking responses. The be innovative in our marketing material support we need to understand international and South African trends but human participation is crucial to create a safe and CONFIDENTIAL platform. Customer service must be balanced between efficiency and empathy.
Article Author
Elzabe Opperman
Founder and Managing Director
The Talking Point Group
