Two of the focuses of my blog are Career Discussions, Health/Wellness and Organizational and Management Discussions. When you’re in management, you want to support the overall health of your staff. Doing so will both maximize their productivity and foster their loyalty. The following contributed post is entitled, Supporting Mental Health In The Workplace.
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Supporting mental health in the workplace is essential; people deserve to be able to open up about how they’re thinking and feeling, and to feel encouraged to do so even in a professional setting. We’re human beings, after all, and we can’t just turn our brains off when we’re at work!
So, if you’re someone who’s out to support mental health in the workplace, but you’re just not sure where to start, we’ve collected a few ideas together for you to look into. Mental health matters a lot more than people tend to think, and as a small business leader, it’s time to advocate for healthy management.
Give Each Employee Some Time
Your employees deserve to have one on one time with you or with a supervisor they’re under the care of. Give them the chance to have private and/or personal meetings, where they can air their struggles or concerns. Because when you make time for meetings like these, you show your employees that their thoughts and feelings matter; you show them that the workplace doesn’t have to be just another problem on their plate.
Try Out a Workshop
A workshop or a training program is essential for supporting mental health in the workplace. With a strategy like this, you create an environment of education about mental health, and you place some positive emphasis on creating an open workplace that people can be productive in.
Indeed, a mental health workshop can be beneficial for all kinds of reasons. It can lead to more sensitivity in the workplace, it can lead to further treatment options to be explored, and it can even just mean a healthy, honest, and open dialogue about mental health at work is being had. Give a keynote speaker the platform, and give your employees the chance to take some time and put their needs at work first.
Provide Options
And finally, be sure to provide as much information on the options for mental health that are available to your employees. Let them know there’s help out there, and that the company can help them get it. Of course, plenty of businesses work closely with mental health charities and private organisations to ensure there’s always a counsellor on hand for an employee to see if need be.
But if your company hasn’t taken a step like this yet, it might be time to do so. Look into your own options for providing mental health care to those in your workplace; companies such as Meridian Psychiatric Partners are out there, and could become part of the healthcare package you provide. Even just storing helpful leaflets or official pamphlets on the front desk allows a person to pick up the information they need when they need it.
Supporting mental health in the workplace is essential to working well. Make sure you’re leading by example and providing the right resources for your employees. For a modern workforce, mental health and wellbeing should be a top priority.
