Health & Safety
Raising awareness of mental health in your workplace
Feature
Encourage open conversations about mental health and the support available
It’s a subject widely discussed – but, as an employer, how do you get in the driving seat when it comes to helping your employees care for themselves? Healthcare employee benefits consultant Ed Watling (pictured), of Mattioli Woods plc, offers his advice.
was ratcheted up several levels by the publication of Thriving at Work – the now famous Stevenson/ Farmer report. One issue the report looked at
A
was how the term “mental health” covers a wide range of conditions – it’s not only stress, anxiety and depression, or even disorders such as bipolar and schizophrenia – it also includes suicidal and self-harm tendencies. And, with the report finding 15 per cent of employees have displayed at least one symptom of a mental health condition, the wide-ranging effect of mental ill health is clear to see. However, given its complexity, such impacts may not be obvious at the outset.
lready a hot topic, the focus on mental health and wellbeing in the workplace
Getting help Once individuals recognise the need for help many are likely to initially see their GP. Unfortunately, general practitioners, by definition, are not mental health experts and are therefore probably not in the best position to clinically assess which form of therapy would be most appropriate. Additionally, mental health
resources within the NHS are under constant pressure, with dependence on the so-called “postcode lottery” leading to waiting lists for consultations and treatment that can run to several months. With the consensus that early intervention leads the way to successful mental health outcomes, delays are only likely to worsen symptoms and complicate the condition.
Since early intervention is
recognised as being the best route to mental wellbeing, the Stevenson/Farmer report stated recommendations for the role of employers in driving good mental wellbeing in the workplace.
These are: • Developing and communicating a mental health at work plan
• Building awareness of mental health among employees
• Encouraging open conversations about mental health and the support available when employees are struggling
• Providing employees with good working conditions
• Ensuring employees have a healthy work life balance and opportunities for development
• Promoting effective people management through line managers and supervisors
• Routine monitoring of employee mental health and wellbeing
This “pathway” is an ideal route to better workplace mental wellbeing, but how it is implemented can be open to interpretation.
Missing out Many organisations still have no mental health strategy in place, so need to start from scratch – but businesses and their staff can’t design a mental health strategy if they don’t understand what they are dealing with. The first step should be training
and awareness, such as an accredited Mental Health
October 2018 CHAMBERLINK 57
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