This panel segment, moderated by Ursula Chikane, explores the two-way relationship between financial hardship and mental health. Dr Zamo Mele and Dr Sheetal Bahari outline how depression and anxiety both arise from and worsen financial strain, creating cycles that can erode livelihoods, relationships and cognitive capacity. The discussion reframes “financial challenges” not as a soft euphemism but as an issue that can permeate every area of life affecting concentration, decision making and the ability to plan and budget effectively.

Speakers highlight real behavioural patterns: burying one’s head in the sand, reckless spending as an emotional reward, increased substance use or gambling, and atypical financial decisions even among otherwise high-functioning professionals. They stress the long-term cost of inaction and argue that the price of early professional help (therapy, counseling) is small compared with the cost of prolonged suffering or lost productivity.

Practical, immediately applicable advice threads through the conversation. The psychologists recommend micro-steps for physical activity (ten-minute walks), adaptive reward systems (smaller inexpensive treats instead of costly purchases), and leveraging social support to maintain accountability. They also emphasise discerning what is controllable and building routines that protect cognitive bandwidth—sleep, movement and reduced exposure to distressing media.

This extract (beginning at 10:15) showcases Ursula Chikane in a warm, reflective feature that combines lifestyle reportage with candid career storytelling. The segment opens with high-energy praise for a recent active session, snorkelling and physical training and quickly settling into a conversation about fitness and the empowering benefits of boxing for women. Ursula places physical discipline alongside the demands of a long broadcast career, noting that hard work and commitment keep her “looking so together.”

She traces her professional origins to sports broadcasting (Junior Top Sport) and a pivotal encounter that led to her joining Top Billing. Ursula admits early-career stylistic missteps but celebrates the programme that allowed her to grow into a versatile on-screen professional. The clip shifts into vivid travel vignettes: fishing in Gabon (including a comically arduous catch), encounters with elephants on an African beach, snorkeling and scuba adventures, time among the Maasai (a spiritually resonant experience), walking the Great Wall of China, and even Arctic swims and Alaska expeditions. Each anecdote demonstrates Ursula’s willingness to learn quickly on location and to let the landscape speak when needed.

Moments of self-deprecating humour from slipping on a bridge at Victoria Falls and having the outtake used as a highlight to humanise her and show an ability to laugh at herself, which she cites as an important lesson. The segment closes with reflective career lessons: versatility is essential in a small industry, be willing to take the bus to new places, find people’s artistry and unlock their stories, and above all respect yourself and the craft. The tone throughout is equal parts adventurous travelogue and practical career mentorship, making the clip suitable for promotional use on Ursula’s emcee/moderator pages or as a lifestyle highlight on a speaker reel.