The Experience from Working with Garment Industry Workers as a Mental Health Social Worker

The Experience from Working with Garment Industry Workers as a Mental Health Social Worker | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The Experience from Working with Garment Industry Workers as a Mental Health Social Worker Joel John N This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8198870/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study presents the experiential reflections of a Mental Health Social Worker (MHSW) engaged with garment and allied dyeing industries across seven districts of Tamil Nadu — Karur, Dindigul, Tirupur, Hosur, Shoolagiri, Chennai, and Gobichettipalayam. Over 10,000 workers were reached through psychosocial awareness and stress-management initiatives, and 90 workers were trained as Peer Counsellors to extend first-level mental health support within factories. Using a qualitative descriptive design, this paper explores the psychosocial stressors affecting workers, the dynamics of peer-led intervention, and the challenges of integrating mental health into industrial systems. The findings indicate that long working hours, financial insecurity, gender bias, and workplace harassment significantly impair mental well-being. The peer-support approach proved effective in improving emotional resilience, communication, and early detection of distress. The author’s reflection highlights that mental health practice in the industrial sector requires cultural sensitivity, participatory empowerment, and systemic advocacy. This experience underscores that industrial mental health cannot be achieved through clinical counselling alone but must involve collaborative partnerships among workers, supervisors, management, and social workers to ensure sustainable well-being garment workers mental health social work peer counselling occupational stress Tamil Nadu industries psychosocial intervention social work practice Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8198870","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":604496803,"identity":"de813cf8-873e-410e-b011-0d382ecb51f8","order_by":0,"name":"Joel John N","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA9ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgYGxgMSDAcY2JgZEh8ABXj4iNDCANbCz87w2ACkhY0Ymw6AkGQ/4zMJEI+gFub25gMHLCru5BkcZk6r/JpjJ8PGwPzw0Q18Dus5lnBA4syzYoPDbGm3ZbclAx3GZmycg0/LjByDA5JthxM3HOZJuy25jRmohYdNGr+W/A9QLfzfiiW31ROjJYcBrGVmM0Ma48dth4nQ0nPMAOiXw4n9zAzJ0ozbjvOwMRPwi2F788PHEhWHE9v4DyR+/Lmt2p6fHSiCV0sDMKAloBxmHjCJRzkIyIMc9wHmyh8EVI+CUTAKRsHIBACnt05ywNdNCQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Bishop Heber College, Affiliated to Bharathidasan University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Joel","middleName":"John","lastName":"N","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-11-25 04:53:26","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8198870/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8198870/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104484856,"identity":"8cda180a-005c-4741-81e7-0b3a031ff2ee","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-12 10:16:15","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":214939,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"TheExperiencefromWorkingwithGarmentIndustryWorkersasaMentalHealthSocialWorker.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8198870/v1_covered_429dfbde-d893-4cc6-b16f-37e863e311e5.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"The Experience from Working with Garment Industry Workers as a Mental Health Social Worker","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"garment workers, mental health social work, peer counselling, occupational stress, Tamil Nadu industries, psychosocial intervention, social work practice","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8198870/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8198870/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"This study presents the experiential reflections of a Mental Health Social Worker (MHSW) engaged with garment and allied dyeing industries across seven districts of Tamil Nadu — Karur, Dindigul, Tirupur, Hosur, Shoolagiri, Chennai, and Gobichettipalayam. Over 10,000 workers were reached through psychosocial awareness and stress-management initiatives, and 90 workers were trained as Peer Counsellors to extend first-level mental health support within factories. Using a qualitative descriptive design, this paper explores the psychosocial stressors affecting workers, the dynamics of peer-led intervention, and the challenges of integrating mental health into industrial systems. The findings indicate that long working hours, financial insecurity, gender bias, and workplace harassment significantly impair mental well-being. The peer-support approach proved effective in improving emotional resilience, communication, and early detection of distress. The author’s reflection highlights that mental health practice in the industrial sector requires cultural sensitivity, participatory empowerment, and systemic advocacy. This experience underscores that industrial mental health cannot be achieved through clinical counselling alone but must involve collaborative partnerships among workers, supervisors, management, and social workers to ensure sustainable well-being","manuscriptTitle":"The Experience from Working with Garment Industry Workers as a Mental Health Social Worker","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-12 10:16:09","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8198870/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3325dbd5-d0bb-4889-8b32-86c8304c759e","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 12th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-12T10:16:09+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-12 10:16:09","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8198870","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8198870","identity":"rs-8198870","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}