Dubai, UAE – 18 September 2026: PRCA MENA unveiled the fifth edition of its MENA Mental Health Report at the PRCA MENA Conference 2026 in Dubai, revealing a widening gap between mental health awareness and the everyday workplace experience of the region’s PR and communications professionals. The report launch is part of this year’s Reset the Mindset conference programme.
The 2026 research finds that 55% of professionals experience stress, anxiety or feelings of being overwhelmed often or all the time, while 41% experience burnout often or very often, despite mental health awareness across the industry continuing to rise.
While 76% now consider themselves well-informed about mental health, up from 66% in 2024, that progress is not being matched by employees’ experience of workplace support. The proportion who feel completely or moderately supported by their organisation has fallen from 71% in 2024 to 58% in 2026.
The pressures of an always-on profession are also evident, with 93% saying they find it difficult to switch off from news and current events because of their role, while 63% believe recent global and regional events have increased stress within the industry.
Conrad Egbert, Head of PRCA MENA, said:
“We’ve become much better at talking about mental health, but we haven’t been as good at changing the conditions affecting it. The industry doesn’t have an awareness problem anymore; it has an action problem.
“If people understand burnout but still feel unable to switch off, manage their workload or take time to recover, then another wellbeing campaign isn’t the answer. This now comes down to how we lead, how we manage people and, fundamentally, how we design work.”
The report finds employees increasingly want practical workplace change, with 46% calling for improvements to the working environment, 41% for better workload management to prevent burnout and 37% for access to mental health professionals.
John Rynehart, Chair of the PRCA MENA Mental Health Committee and Managing Director, Middle East at Kekst CNC said:
“The communications industry no longer has a mental health awareness problem. It has an implementation problem.
“We know what drives stress, burnout and poor wellbeing. The challenge now is whether organisations are willing to make the changes required to address them.
“Our collective goal should not simply be to help people cope with unhealthy ways of working. It should be to create healthier ways of working in the first place.”
The PRCA MENA Mental Health Report 2026 is the fourth edition of PRCA MENA’s research into mental health and wellbeing across the region’s PR and communications industry.
To view the report, visit: https://prca-conference.org/prca-mena-mental-health-report-2026
About PRCA MENA
PRCA MENA is the regional arm of the world’s largest public affairs, public relations and communications association (PRCA). It was established in 2016 with the aim of raising standards in PR and communications. Representing more than 35,000 PR professionals in 82 countries worldwide, the PR authority is a global advocate for excellence in public relations. The PRCA’s teams across Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific work with industry professionals around the world to co-ordinate operations across six continents.
For more information visit: https://prca.mena.global/