Mental health at work - Monday Matters #2
As it’s mental health awareness week we thought we’d focus this week’s Monday Matters post on supporting people with their mental health at work. Heres 5 ways you can support your team with their mental health.
Facilitate team building workshops that deepen understanding
Creating inclusive spaces where teams are encouraged to share more about what makes them unique - such as what strengths, difficulties or needs they have in the workplace - are vital for supporting people’s mental health. Mental health problems affect each of us differently so it’s important to make it possible for people to talk openly about how their colleagues can get the best out of them. Running sessions such as this one, or asking people to complete a ‘user manual for me’, will create opportunities for people to start sharing deeper insights with one another about who they are and what shapes the way they behave and feel at work.
Not only is this acknowledgement and understanding important in and of itself, but it also makes it possible to think more proactively about what you might need to adapt about the way you work as a team or what you might need to be aware of in order for everyone to feel they can thrive at work. I’ve also recently been practicing using the Change Triangle with teams as a way of supporting people to openly discuss and unpick anxiety and shame that people feel at work.
Make space to talk 1-2-1
However, mental health is often be deeply personal and painful, so not everyone will feel ready to talk about their mental health in front of a whole team. That’s why regular one-to-ones are so important for our mental health at work but sadly they are often the first thing to be cancelled or postponed when things get busy or difficult to manage. If you are a manager, ensuring that you are consistent with your 1-2-1 catch ups (as well as practicing deep listening during these conversations) are paramount to helping your team feel like they can trust you to hear them and be there for them when they need it most.
Introduce mental health champions
But what if the trust isn’t there with our managers? Or they might even be contributing to the problem? Introducing mental health champions in your workplace can be a great way of offering more impartial support to people. Providing staff with Mental Health First Aid training to be able to understand the triggers or signs and feel confident with supporting a person in distress can be so transformational. As well as creating more opportunities for people to feel able to talk, mental health problems can often creep up on us and take us by surprise. A few weeks after her training a mental health champion in my last workplace stepped in to support a senior member of the team who was suffering from a panic attack. The situation was handled much more calmly and supportively than it might have been otherwise.
Set an example
In order to dismantle the stigma around mental health we all need to be setting an example to others about how we talk about and manage mental health at work. Whether it’s simply sharing your own experiences with depression, letting people know about visits to your therapist in the same way you might mention a opticians appointment, or encouraging someone in your team who’s suffering from anxiety to take a break, setting small examples can completely transform people’s experiences of dealing with mental health issues at work and ensure they get or ask for the support they need sooner.
Fully commit to flexible working
Many teams have started to say “it’s okay to take sick days for your mental health”. This is a great improvement on the situation a few years ago but if we are serious about supporting people with their mental health we need to more fully commit to flexible working. According to charity Mind, 1 in 6 of us experience mental health problems in any given week. Introducing 4 day-week, or simply allowing people to adapt their working patterns to suit them, will greatly improve people’s well-being at work and make it easier for people to manage their mental health. It might be that some people need to take regular extended periods of leave to cope with their mental health, some may need flexibility to attend therapy or counselling during working hours, and others simply need to be able to more flexibly take short breaks in order to practice mindfulness. We are all unique - we cope in different ways, we experience mental health issues differently, and we need different support at different times in our lives. Committing to flexible working will enable your team to adapt to the needs of everyone and ensure that you create an environment where people are empowered to thrive.
If you’d like to chat to us about how to talk about mental health at work then we’ll be hosting a remote coffee break on Friday 22nd May at 10am BST. We’ll share our experiences of coping with mental health issues at work, discuss how we use the change triangle for managing anxiety, and create an inclusive space for others to feel able to talk and share their experiences too. Get in touch if you’d like an invite!