Mentally Healthy Workplaces

We hear a lot of negative information about mental health: cost to employers, burden on healthcare, rising mental health disability. This stuff gets so overwhelming and is feeling more and more like an exercise in liability and mental health at work becomes a fear-based discussion around who is responsible for what and pressure rises on employers to show they are doing something about their staff's mental wellbeing.

 

The reality is, most employers care about their employees and want them to do well at work and at home. And this is good news, because good mental health starts with fun, play, togetherness and building good relationships. When times are hard, these foundations make our teams strong and resilient, with the will and emotional capacity to support each other. If this is in place, specialist intervention isn't needed most of the time. This is crucially important during Covid-19 outbreaks and restrictions, where there is an existential threat as well as work life itself feeling harder.

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We can help you build the kind of workplace that is stronger in its foundations, but also knows how to respond effectively in the face of mental health struggles. Our approach is simple:

• Education and training on why mental health problems arise and why they're an important part of human experience, including positive discussions about mental health and internal experiences: the weird and wonderful ways people experience the world and what they can offer your team. We break down the fear around mental health being a 'problem' and help you and your employees understand its function and significance.

• Building strong community relationships that work both in your organisation and at home, to improve natural support that encourages great mental health first, and catches struggle early when it arises. Because we can't see or touch mental health, our relationships with each other and how we create trust and safety are fundamental in knowing each other well enough and believing in each other's ability to get through difficult times. We are, essentially, each others' antidote to struggle. When this is done well, it extends beyond our business to our families and home life, reducing the pressure of being 'on the ball' about mental health for ourselves and others right across our lives.

• Creating a non-medical safety net for your employees and their families, so that when the worst happens and people begin to fall, support is easy to access and doesn't interrupt life, home or work. This is crucial for maintaining dignity, confidence and a sense of identity while someone is experiencing acute mental health problems. Feeling incapable, lost or ashamed about our thoughts, feelings or behaviours is one of the most compounding factors for mental health health problems, and starts the slow circle of descent into long term mental health issues or acute crisis.

• What good crisis care looks like, including what you can do when employees are in acute distress and empowering your employees to support family and friends in acute distress. We cannot tell you how important it is to tackle the sense of helplessness for the people around someone in crisis, to prevent that distress from widening and becoming overwhelming.

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All our employer services look beyond individual mental health problems to the environments and relationships that create the fertile ground for great mental health. We help you create a workplace that is both preventative and healing, and that also improves relationships with customers. As a user-led organisation, we know the impact of mentally healthy practices on our willingness to use services and support businesses. Mentally healthy workplaces extend beyond workforces themselves to all the people you interact with in the course of your business. But you must start with your own teams to realise this benefit.

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Whatever your budget, whatever your vision, our first priority is reducing mental distress and the impact of trauma on the lives of our fellow humans, so contact us for an affordable solution to your workplace mental health concerns.