Why Mental Health at Work Deserves Your Attention
It is estimated that one out of five people will experience mental illness during their lifetime. Protecting your mental health at work is just as important as protecting your physical safety, whether you’re dealing with everyday job stress or something more serious. Here are a few tips from Mental Health America that may help in promoting mental health. Poor sleep and chronic fatigue can also take a toll on mental health, so it’s worth paying attention to both.
Remove toxic influences from your life. Remove those people or things in your life that are bringing you down and create healthy routines to take care of yourself. Identifying the toxic influences in our lives and taking steps to create a new life without them can improve mental and physical health over time.
Reach out and try to connect with others. Being lonely causes the same amount of damage to your lifespan as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and is more dangerous to your health than obesity. This kind of isolation can be especially challenging for employees who spend long stretches working alone.
It’s Okay to Give Yourself Permission to Feel
We know that life can throw everyone curveballs and at some point in our lives we will all experience loss. It may be the end of a relationship, being let go from a job, losing a home, or the death of a loved one. It is natural to go through the grieving process.
Looking for opportunity in adversity is a way to remember the good things about who or what we’ve lost, and it can help mental and emotional recovery. Sometimes there are societal pressures that encourage people to shut down their emotions, often expressed through statements like, “big girls don’t cry,” or “man up.” These outdated ideas are harmful and unhelpful. Everyone has emotions and have every right to feel them, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, social-economic status, race, political affiliation or religion.
Talk It Out
Find someone you trust that you can talk to about how you are feeling. You may find that people are eager to share similar experiences they have had or times that they have felt the way that you are feeling. This can be helpful but if you’re really only interested in having someone listen, it’s okay to tell them that too.
See a mental health professional if you’re taking steps to be more in touch with your feelings and are having trouble dealing with them. Mental health providers like counselors and therapists have been trained to help. Some free or low-cost options are also available from company employee assistance programs, as well as religious organizations like churches, synagogues, and mosque which often have experience with counseling. Taking care of your mental health at work is just as much a part of a strong safety mindset as wearing the right protective gear.
Managers and coworkers play a role too. Checking in on a colleague who seems withdrawn, normalizing conversations about stress and burnout, and making sure employees actually know what support is available through their benefits can go a long way toward building a workplace where mental health at work is treated as seriously as physical safety.
Resources to Support Mental Health at Work
Here is a short list of some resources for mental health:
- Mental Health America – https://www.mhanational.org/mental-health-month information on mental health and healthy living.
- National Domestic Violence Hotline – Available 24/7, 365 days a year, the National Domestic Violence Hotline provides support and resources for people who are being abused or people that suspect someone they care about is being abused. Services are available in multiple languages. Call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text “LOVEIS” to 22522. Visit thehotline.org for additional information.
- ChoicesInRecovery.com – Support and information for people with Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective, and Bipolar Disorder and their caregivers, including resources for having conversations with treatment professionals.
This piece on mental health at work is part of Formetco’s ongoing content series. Stay tuned to the Formetco blog for more on mental health at work.