3 THINGS ABOUT WORKPLACE MENTAL HEALTH THAT NEED TO DISAPPEAR - Part 3
By Stéphane Grenier, MHI Founder & CEO
Part 3 of 3
In this three-part blog, I address what I believe are the top 3 things that need to disappear when it comes to workplace mental health. I've also shared some valid reasons why and what leaders can do to create a safe and supportive environment where their people and organization will thrive.
#3 Mental Health in the Workplace: A Leadership Issue, not a Clinical One
In my final post of this 3-part blog, I explore why anchoring workplace education pertaining to mental health in the clinical paradigm and narrative is not effective and how mental health in the workplace is, in fact, a leadership issue, not a clinical one.
Over the past decade, considerable effort has been put into improving mental health literacy within large organizations. While the intention is undoubtedly to create a more supportive environment, I believe that some initiatives promoting the clinical paradigm may have the unintended consequence of increasing social distancing rather than fostering and empowering support. Emphasizing the distinctions between various disorders and detailing lists of symptoms may, in fact, lead employees to feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the information and, as a result, left feeling less capable of providing help.
The clinical paradigm refers to an approach that is underpinned by a medical approach to mental health that involves using diagnostic and symptoms-based language to frame the issue and set the cultural baseline in an organization. While this approach is useful for clinicians when treating patients, it isn't suitable for addressing mental health in the workplace.
A key reason the clinical paradigm and narrative fall short in addressing workplace mental health is that issues often arise from work-related stressors or systemic factors, such as excessive workload, ineffective management practices, or a toxic work environment. Applying a clinical approach designed for treating patients in a healthcare setting to a workplace context where treatment is not the primary focus is akin to attempting to fit a square peg into a round hole. In other words, it needs to be a better-suited solution for the issue at hand.
Workplace mental health should be considered a leadership issue, with leaders playing a vital role in creating a work environment that promotes mental well-being. This involves more than just providing mental health lunch and learns or promoting work-life balance. Instead, leaders should address toxic behaviours, foster a caring culture that values mental health, and create a safe, inclusive environment that respects diversity.
Leaders can support mental health in the workplace by developing skills that allow everyone in the organization to recognize and support a peer in distress, regardless of their role. This approach requires a shift from a clinical perspective to a more humanistic one that harnesses the power of human interaction.
So, what can be done?
Leaders can model simple, caring behaviours and be authentic and vulnerable. The executive team (and consequently, the whole organization) should view mental health as an opportunity rather than a problem only clinicians can address. Employees should be encouraged to recognize signs of distress in themselves and others and take action to support one another, fostering a culture where it's okay to be human at work.
“An interesting thing happened in the wake of that episode. Colonel Corrigan pulled me aside after the meeting finished and asked me to stick around. Given my late arrival, I assumed that I was in trouble. Instead, we went to his office and had a really great conversation.
He had read my personnel file and very tactfully said that the excellence demonstrated in it did not match the man sitting in front of him. He quickly bridged that comment by saying that he was concerned and that he understood Rwanda was a difficult tour. He then told me that he wanted to give me all the time I needed to take care of myself and address whatever issues were going on in my head. The conversation finished with him saying that he was prepared to email the medical surgeon and ask if she could set up an appointment for me to speak with someone.
The colonel was my superior, but he made me feel comfortable and acted more like a peer than a boss during that conversation. It was as if he had given me the institutional permission to start recovering from my turmoil.”
Implementing a workplace peer support program that leverages the lived experience of individuals who receive training to provide support to their peers can be a powerful tool. Besides genuine empathy, a peer supporter can promote treatment through personal empowerment and serve as a role model for recovery. That connection holds great value even if peers don't share the same mental health experiences.
Feeling supported and knowing you're not alone can make a significant difference for people experiencing mental health challenges.
We’re here to help.
Creating a caring culture can seem daunting, but you don't have to do it alone. We can guide you in putting the caring culture strategy into practice.
To begin, download your copy of the Caring Culture Playbook and join our team and other like-minded, caring leaders at our next virtual event in May! All Caring Culture Playbook subscribers receive an exclusive invitation to this free virtual interactive event.
When you sign up to receive your free Playbook, you'll also access six additional resources about programs that support the Playbook's strategies and generate real, measurable, and tangible results.
