Looking after your mental health at work Mental wellbeing and employment

Objectives for the workshop To provide you with some considerations around disclosing a mental health condition at work To provide you with more of an understanding around the importance of tackling the root cause To identify areas where you can get support from

To disclose or not to disclose? That is the question You’re in a job and your mental health starts to suffer. You’re faced with a very difficult decision; Do I tell my line manager or keep it to myself? If you tell your manager then they may be able to offer support and/or reasonable adjustments. Disclosure Non - Disclosure

Disclosure continued… What is your relationship with your manager like? Are they approachable and do you have a good rapport with them? What’s the working environment like? Is it a place where people are treated with respect and supported if feeling a little under the weather? Has anybody else been affected by mental health problems and if so what has their experience been like?

Wearing a mask Many people experiencing mental health problems report ‘wearing a mask’ at work. This is where they will smile and appear happy in front of their peers. Yet they will experience emotional difficulties when in private. Is this something that sounds familiar? Work can be good for your mental health. But it’s important to be in the right frame of mind whilst you're there. So make sure you address the cause and get the right support. Remember…problems at work can increase your emotional unrest

Identifying and tackling the cause It’s important to find what things are causing you to feel stressed and look at tackling the root cause. What do you feel could cause you to feel stressed both at home and at work? Finances Health Housing problems Relationship s Lack of support Difficult targets Not fitting in with colleagues Unsure of role At home At work

Causes of stress at work So how do we get from this…To this?... Stress Calm …by addressing the root cause

Tackling the root cause Have you heard of the phrase ‘sticking a plaster on it’? This is when we find a temporary solution to a problem rather than addressing the cause. Imagine wrapping a cloth around a leaking pipe in your home. It doesn’t fix the leak and doesn’t stop the water from seeping out. It’s no different when it comes to our wellbeing What we need to do is address what is the real cause of our distress and identify what we can do to make things better and who can help us. ‘The cause’

Getting the right support What areas of support do you think are available to you? Here are just a few: Family Friends Manager Colleagues Professional organisations

Be proud of small steps!!! One of the ways we can address the things that are causing us unrest is by setting small targets and not trying to do everything at once. It can also help to break these down into work and personal targets Work targets –You can always sit down with your manager and discuss how you could make things more manageable. The worst thing you can do is to stay quiet and struggle. Personal targets – This relates to the targets you set yourself, at work or at home, and can be little things you achieve which make you feel good abut yourself. If things have been particularly difficult for you it may be something as small as going to work or talking to your peers.

The right support at work Manager support – Quite often managers would prefer you spoke to them to see how they can support. This is a better alternative to you continuing as you are and it affecting your work Peer support – Sometimes it’s also good to be able to speak with colleagues. After all they will be doing a similar job to you. Find out how they handle the pressure and organise their workload. You may be able to pick up some useful tips

Let’s revisit our objectives To provide you with some considerations around disclosing a mental health condition at work To provide you with more of an understanding around the importance of tackling the root cause To identify areas where you can get support from

Pause for thought

Useful resources