roundtable
The Cardinal Clinic has been going into businesses more and more over the past 18 months to offer on-site resilience training to help employees cope with stress. “It’s been really interesting because company employees can see what a clinical psychologist actually looks like. It helps break down boundaries when they see we don’t wear white coats or carry straitjackets,” said Carroll.
Saying yes too often
Sometimes, we bring pressure on ourselves that can lead to mental health problems. One trigger is saying yes too much. “Not knowing when to say no can lead to stress building up unchecked,” thought Bird. “We advise our new graduate recruits not to worry about saying no sometimes, and to find alternative solutions for clients.”
Davis referred to the power of a positive no. “Saying no is about saying yes to something else, so you are reframing the situation. However, many people are pre-conditioned to say yes to everything.”
Empathy is a great quality but can come back and kick you, observed Carroll, who gave an example: “Saying yes all the time can put you under pressure and you become insecure about your performance. So you stop answering calls, start falling behind in your work, and are stressed about seeing people. It makes you depressed and burns you out. The answer is not to be afraid of answering those calls and saying no if you need to.”
Saying yes all the time can lead to worries about making mistakes because you are taking on too much. You then worry about being singled out for making errors. Swanwick said: “Mistakes are part of life. It’s how you react to them that’s important. Companies need to instill this attitude in their culture.”
However, having a ‘no blame’ culture is a challenge as it can mean mistakes may not be corrected, noted Davis: “At Royal Mail, we have moved to an open, just and fair culture instead. You need to be able to get to the root cause of a problem, where there might be some responsibility. You shouldn’t get too hung up about avoiding identifying where something went wrong – the real skill is making the correction and learning from it.”
Barriers to overcome
The area where you live and your personal background can influence how you deal with mental health
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – JULY/AUGUST 2018
issues. “There are still pockets in the UK where we need to do more work. Regional differences in attitudes mean it can be harder for people to come forward and say they have a problem,” said Davis.
Wilson: “There are also religious differences to consider. For some people, saying you have a mental health problem is unacceptable.”
Businesses face a challenge in offering suitable support to a wide age range. “The older generation tends to have a stiff upper lip attitude to talking about mental health. We have to think about how we support older employees as well as the millennials,” added Wilson.
Davis added: “We’ve recently started piloting a reverse mentoring programme, where new graduates mentor older employees, especially in areas like working with technology. This works best where the relationship is reciprocal.”
Best practice ideas
The discussion wrapped up with the panel sharing ideas on what can change attitudes to mental health in the workplace.
Davis: “You can alleviate and address a lot of mental health issues just by talking, then working out strategies for coping.”
Wilson: “I advocate PIP to companies: prevention, intervention and protection.”
Carroll: “The Cardinal Clinic is working with companies to get more involved at the prevention stage.”
Holland: “Most people have a public and private face; we tend to leave our emotions at the door so identifying mental health issues can be a challenge. Ideally we need to create a safe environment that allows employees to express rather than suppress their emotions.”
Wilkins concluded by saying support has to come from the top. “Make sure you have a board-level sponsor if you are responsible for your company’s mental health initiatives. Someone who has your back, who shares your passion, and who will support what you are doing.”
Useful contacts:
Cardinal Clinic
cardinalclinic.co.uk
Mental Health First Aid England
mhfaengland.org
Dr Shaun Davis
Reference:
Positive Male Mind: Overcoming mental health problems by Shaun Davis and Andrew Kinder
Provides insight, advice, and tips on what can be done at a very practical level to make men’s mental health much more positive.
To be launched on World Mental Health Day in October
Available on Amazon as a pre- order
David Murray
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