Addressing Mental Health Problems in the Workplace
According to official statistics released by The American Institute of Stress, 40% of workers in the US are struggling with stress caused by the workplace. Time and again, studies have shown that the workplace is the primary cause of stress for people across the country.
Despite being overwhelmed by mental health problems, employees are expected to show up and perform in the workplace. But if the illness is severely impacting your ability to work, you may have to take some time off.
Realizing that mental health is becoming a serious concern for the workplace, some companies are finally taking action to combat the problem.
Here’s how some companies are addressing mental health problems in the workplace:
Acknowledging Mental Health
The first step to dealing with mental health in the office is to acknowledge it. Workers appreciate employers that realize their employees are struggling with mental health and want to take steps to help them.
Pretending that the mental health problem doesn’t exist isn’t doing anyone any favors. Turning a blind eye to the issue isn’t going to make it disappear. For the sake of improving productivity, a company’s leaders need to talk about mental health openly to let their subordinates know that it’s alright for them to voice their concerns.
Train Managers
Not all companies have the budget to hire full-time mental health counselors; however, they can train their managers so they are better prepared to handle such issues.
Traditional managers make the mistake of applying a one-size-fits-all solution for employees struggling with mental health problems, but this approach doesn’t work. Everyone feels, thinks and behaves differently; every employee has distinct motivations and concerns.
Offering mental health training for managers involves teaching them how to read and decode employees so they can tailor their managerial styles accordingly. Some employees are better at dealing with mental health issues than others. Managers should know what each employee needs for them to overcome mental health issues.
Raise Awareness Through Training Programs
Now that we know there is a problem, it’s time to fix it. As great as a company’s leaders may be, they don’t have the expertise to train employees to manage stress.
Hiring a mental health expert and professional counselors to facilitate training programs has become a crucial part of workplace development. These programs can include onsite workshops as well as webinars.
The purpose of these sessions is to help employees identify signs of mental health problems and arm them with tools to help manage them.
With the demand for mental health professionals increasing, mental health counselors should invest in training to polish their skills-set so they can serve clients better.
At E Care Behavioral Health Institute, we provide affordable CEUs for training for Addiction counselors that consist of live webinars and recorded webinars. Browse through our collection of webinars and courses to get started on social work ceu webinars.
