We all agree that as bad as the Covid-19 pandemic was, it actually opened our eyes to the many toxic traits we had all called ‘normal.’ The isolation that came forced people to introspect and many can agree that they realized just how much we had normalized taking mental health for granted.
In isolation, many came to terms with their own toxic traits. Others realized that they had been suppressing trauma. Most of all, many realized just how much they sought external gratification to be whole.
All of the aforementioned are scary but the upside is that Counselors and Therapists were readily available to help us navigate a way out of the dark hole of depression, and in Lesotho, many are blessed to have had their lives touched by Tsotang Letsie.
24 year old Tsotang Letsie is an uprising Counselor in Lesotho who has decided to dedicate his life to helping people who have mental health issues. He describes positive mental health as a degree of wellness within which all mental process edify one’s purpose.
He helps people with different disorders through psychotherapy through which he offers counseling and motivates his clients. He believes that many problems in society are a result of people passing on their hurt to others, much like the famous adage says, ‘‘hurt people hurt.’’
In his opinion, the more people run from their trauma in the name of being strong, the more toxic we are going to become to one another. In his own words, “I believe that it’s high time people learn to speak up and get help when they need it.”
Statistics indicate that out of 45% of people with mental illnesses, only 5% go for counseling and this is why hatred is so prevalent among people. Tsotang Letsie realized that he changed when he started to make his mental health a priority and urges people to do the same.
He emphasizes, “I have become more advanced in managing my own emotions and miraculously, I have become less impulsive with how I act.”
He urges people to go for counseling because problems will keep coming. While we’re on this earth, negative emotions will weigh us down and therefore we might impulsively radiate the pain onto others.
Having realized just how negatively unsolved trauma affects mental health, Mr. Letsie has decided to help people by raising awareness about what he calls ‘The Power of Perspective.’ In all his counseling sessions, he uses empathy to make clients comfortable enough to express how they feel about their different problems.
In addition, he uses his psychotherapy skills to assess the degree to which a problem has affected a client. After listening to the pain the client has endured, he helps the client identify how a change in perspective can help him/her heal the trauma.
He advises that as much as trauma incidents are terrible, the way a victim sees it is what will determine the healing. For instance, a rape victim can be healed from trauma if her perspective can be shifted from ‘It was my fault he raped me’ to ‘I know that I did not deserve what happened to me because I was not in control.’
Healing is not always easy but Mr. Letsie believes that it can only start if people realize that it is a slow process. It starts with something as simple as speaking up and making the decision to try to heal.
Everyone carries the baggage of pain every occasionally. The difference between someone who is willing to be healed from the pain and he who is not is the will to try to get help. No one can live alone and Mr. Letsie advises that we all become our brother’s keeper.
As scary as it is to confront one’s pain head-on, it is more rewarding to be free from pain than stay bound by it. Tsotang Letsie is an inspiration to many because he is doing the best he can to help people who are ridden by pain and trauma. We wish him the very best in his career and we cannot wait to see how he will shift Basotho’s perspective on mental health.
If you need counseling or know someone who does, reach out to Tsotang Letsie on Facebook and he will be more than willing to help.