Workplace health should include mental wellbeing

One in five Canadians experiences mental illness at some time in their lives. With stats like that, it’s highly likely that employees at your organization are experiencing, will experience, or have experienced a mental illness. Imagine an employee comes to you to tell you they’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Now imagine the same scenario, but instead of cancer, the employee shares that they’ve been diagnosed with a mental health illness. Is your response the same?
 
The reality of mental health stigma in the workplace is that most employees who disclose mental illness are not treated with the same compassion as those that disclose physical ailments. And that’s unfortunate. Mental health is as real and unavoidable as any other illness. As mental health awareness increases so too should employers’ desire to understand mental illness. Ensuring that the workforce is healthy – including mental wellness – will have a positive impact on your organization because healthy workers are happy workers!  

There are many ways to reduce mental health stigma in the workplace

What is Stigma?

Stigma manifests itself in incorrect, negative stereotypes and sometimes discriminatory (intentional or more likely, unintentional) behaviours.
 
Without education and information, accommodations for individuals with mental illness may be perceived erroneously as favouritism, or preferential treatment. This is one manifestation of stigma. Mental illness is not a choice, and yet, the stigma prevails. Changing this opinion and reducing (or eliminating) stigma is a major challenge for employers.

Reducing Stigma

Understanding mental illness and its impact on an individual will help workers accept accommodations as the employer’s way of providing equitable treatment to all workers in the workplace.
 
There are many ways to reduce mental health stigma in the workplace.

Implementing policies and offering programs aimed at mental wellness will help reduce mental health stigma in the workplace

Top Down Support

There are many things a leader can do to show that they understand that mental health and wellness are important. As well, leaders who make accommodations for workers with mental illness, or make changes company-wide in the support of everyone’s mental wellness, send a message that they care about the mental wellbeing of their workforce.
 
When a leader supports mental wellness, workers feel more able and comfortable discussing their mental wellness and their needs at work. This will reduce stigma and foster a supportive work environment. 

Mental Wellness Policies and Programs

​Implementing policies and offering programs aimed at mental wellness – and encouraging workers to use them – will further reduce mental health stigma in the workplace. Many employers understand the benefits of an Employee Assistance Plan (EAP), which provides access to councillors, financial wellness professionals, addictions specialists, and more. The goal of an EAP is to provide employees with support beyond the support an employer can offer.
 
Additionally, most employers are now implementing open-door policies, to allow workers to come to them to talk, ask for accommodation, or discuss concerns. Making open-door policies and EAPs commonplace is helping to reduce the stigma around asking for help.

Access to Resources

​Sometimes an employee needs more help than an employer can give. When this is the case, an employer can provide the employee with access to additional resources. These can include information about the EAP, 800 numbers, information about crisis centres, or pamphlets and literature. To reduce stigma, ensure that employees know that there are additional resources available if needed and that you’ll help them access the help they require. 

Implementing Wellness at Work

Some workplaces are reducing stigma at work by making changes to both the physical workplace, and the work environment. Examples of this include:

•  Offering on-site yoga classes at lunchtime to encourage healthy bodies and minds
• Bringing in a masseuse to offer complimentary stress-reducing massages
• Providing personal paid wellness days to workers, so that they can rest their minds without worrying about paying the bills
• Making quiet rooms available for employees who need a mind-break, a moment to collect their thoughts, or a five-minute meditation
• Doing daily morning and afternoon stretch breaks to keep the mind and body limber
• Providing information about the organization’s EAP in the orientation training program
• Keeping wellness goodies on hand such as stress balls, fidget spinners, and healthy snacks
• Giving employees time to take a walk throughout the day to stretch their legs and clear their minds… This is the perfect antidote to the 3:00pm wall that so many employees hit!

Training

​Knowledge is power. Without knowledge, understanding mental illness is impossible. Mental Health Awareness Training is perhaps the single-most-important thing your organization can do to reduce mental health stigma at work. Without training, employees, managers, and executives don’t have the required information to reduce stigma, provide support, and understand that mental illness is just that: an illness. The antidote to stigma is open discussion, accepting attitudes, and education about mental illness.

Trust MidSouthWest Training and Consulting 

MidSouthWest Training and Consulting offers Mental Health Awareness Training. We also provide consulting services and we can help you develop a Mental Health Awareness Policy and Program. You can trust MidSouthWest Training and Consulting to provide you with cost-effective training solutions tailored to meet your organization’s unique health and safety needs.
 
To ask questions about how to reduce the mental health stigma in your workplace, contact us online or call 289.309.1143. Visit us 24/7 on the web at midsouthwest.ca.

​Last updated May 14, 2020