Wilderness ran our first Mental Health Awareness panel discussion which was very well attended, across all regions. Our panellists, Marissa Morkel, Dr Simon King, Darren Graham and Letang Selepe provided powerful and valuable insights into a number of aspects concerning mental health, wellbeing and illness.  The discussion highlighted the need for more regular engagement on mental health, and we look forward to presenting similar sessions in the future.

If you are looking for mental health support and don’t know where to go, visit your family doctor or GP to start with, and they can advise the best path for your mental health journey, with a referral letter.

You can also chat to your Wilderness Human Resources Manager.

For urgent and immediate psychological support, WILDERNESS24 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for all Wilderness staff.
Call +27 10 007 0835

Learn more about our panellists:

Marissa Morkel

Marissa is a Clinical Psychologist who operates a private practice in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She loves the outdoors and has worked with people who live and work in remote environments. Marissa believes that psychotherapy strengthens the individual’s ability to self-actualise, allowing them to become authors of their own lives. Her other key interests include short-term trauma work, behavior modification and fostering individual growth.

Dr Simon King

Dr King is the CEO of Park.Doctor (the medical team behind Wilderness24). Simon is a medical doctor whose key focus is remote medical assistance and helping organisations like Wilderness. Simon has also worked in the field of psychiatry and applies cognitive psychology principles whilst managing cases in our regions.

Darren Graham

Darren is a registered Industrial Psychologist. Darren is passionate about working alongside Business Leaders to find innovative ways to improve their teams’ or company’s performance. He has spent most of his career working with executives and their leadership teams, improving their ability to work as a team and enhance their strategic performance. Darren has consulted with Wilderness for many years and has a sound knowledge of our people and business.

Letang Selepe

Letang is one of us! She is currently a trainer at the Wilderness office in Maun, Botswana. Letang has a deep passion for improving mental health awareness. She brings personal experience to the panel in navigating mental health challenges, breaking stigmas and supporting staff with the right information around mental health.