Podcast 15 How to bring up your mental health at work with Emma Mamo Viewpoint careers advice blog

Podcast 15 How to bring up your mental health at work with Emma Mamo Mental health is still seen as a taboo subject, especially in a work environment.  In this podcast, we spoke to   Emma Mamo, Head of Workplace Wellbeing at Mind,  a leading mental health charity. Emma  provides her expert advice to any listeners who may be experiencing a mental health issue and feel they want to speak to their employer about it. 1. The term mental health is a far-reaching one. What do we really mean when we talk about mental health, and more specifically mental health problems? We all have mental health, same as we have our physical health. We move up and down that spectrum from good to poor for any number of reasons. Obviously, the workplace can have a significant impact, for good and bad. In terms of good mental health, you just mentioned the World Health Organisation and they define good mental health as a state of wellbeing, where someone is able to contribute to society. Theyre able to fulfil their potential and theyre able to cope with the daily stresses and strains of life well. So, in terms of mental health problems and that term, when youre experiencing a period of poor mental health the way youre thinking and feeling may be negatively impacting your ability to manage your life on a day to day basis, but poor mental health or a mental health problem can be linked to a period of emotional distress, linked to a life event like bereavement or a relationship breakdown. It can be workplace stress or it can be living with a mental health condition. And in terms of conditions, there are more common ones like depression, anxiety, and there are more rare ones like schizophrenia and bipolar. That term mental health, mental problems is quite a broad term, but then its covering quite a broad spectrum of experiences so to speak. 2. What are the signs that your mental health issues could be impacting your day to day life both inside and outside of work? Our moods can fluctuate day to day, so it can be hard to know when youre just experiencing that temporary period of an issue, or you have got a more serious problem. I think its about thinking how long have these feelings and thoughts and experiences been going on for. And then thinking about do you need to speak to someone about it. But in terms of signs in the workplace, its about thinking about how you interact with colleagues. Im quite a happy chatty person. But if Im feeling the pressure at work, I’ll come in in the morning, I’ll turn my computer on, Ill be typing away, Ill be withdrawing from office banter . So you know those are the indicators that I might be struggling, and it’s the same for other people â€" maybe they are staying later or getting in earlier, just changes to peoples working patterns. But I will say as a colleague or a team member there can sometimes be no outward signs if people are struggling, people can hide that. So its more about trying to create an open culture where people feel comfortable to talk about these issues. 3. When it comes to working we all feel varying degrees of pressure in our roles. How can our listeners take steps to manage these pressures so that they dont become worse over time? We all have an element of pressure in our jobs; targets, clients, deadlines, KPIs, so on and so forth. So the pressure is there. Stress is that feeling that whats being asked of you is more than you can deliver on, and that could be because of time and resources. That feeling of stress is really about more is being asked of you than youve got the capability to deliver on. And that really changes. Some days I can come in and I can deal with 10 million emails, and other days Im like “thats just too much”. So its an ebb and flow. So in terms of how an individual can manage that, I think its just being really aware when youre getting into that space and then thinking about what you can do to manage it. For me its about can I find some time to work elsewhere or work from home, and really get a handle on an out of control inbox or all the stuff thats coming into me and I feel like Im not really sure what to prioritise. You’ve got to take the time and make the time to look at that stuff. I think then its also thinking about your response to stress or poor mental health, so if you get quite angry you might need to do something to bring yourself down, e.g. meditation or relaxation techniques. If you get a low mood when you feel the pressure is on or youre experiencing poor mental health, you might need to do something to energise yourself, maybe exercise. So just really understanding what does this look like for me and what may be the antidote to that. 4. Its a fact that some people who may be experiencing mental health issues do struggle to raise the issue of mental health at work. Why do you think that is, and would you say that there is still a stigma around mental health problems? Ive worked at Mind for around 12 years, and in broader society, things have improved around mental health and people are talking openly about this. Weve seen young royals spearheading a campaign. There have been sports professionals and I think thats all created a more positive environment. I think in the workplace we have lagged behind. Ive focused on this area since 2010 and I would say its only the last couple of years where it has been more permissive to talk about these issues. But thats not in every workplace, I think thats just in broader terms. And I think some of the reasons are, once you say it you cant unsay it. Will it impact on your career and so on? Last year we surveyed forty-four-thousand people in work across the UK and we found around half had experienced poor mental health in their current job, and only half had disclosed, and the top three reasons were I didnt want to be seen differently by my employer, I didnt want to be seen differently by my colleagues, and people said the third reason was around have to work that much harder to get respect and being seen as vulnerable or not able to hack the pace. So theres all that, that creates a barrier to people speaking up and getting support sooner which is a huge problem. 5.    Do you have any advice for listeners who may be worried or concerned about speaking up about mental health in the workplace, and how can talking to your employer about your mental health issues help? This is a complex issue. I think there are pros and cons to both. If you speak to them and they respond positively you can get those support measures, workplace adjustments that can help you. If you get a negative response, obviously thats not going to be good at all. With mental health, for some people, it would qualify as a disability under the Equality Act if it was shown to have a long-term substantial impact on your ability to live your day to day life. So if you are covered by the Equality Act, and you then disclosed to your employer, you have protections under the Equality Act in terms of reasonable adjustments and so on. But obviously, in order to determine whether or not you would qualify, I think its good to get advice. You can phone the Mind infoline and our legal advice line. You could phone ACAS and get some advice about your individual situation. Obviously, the work that were doing at Mind and so on is trying to encourage employers to think more positively around supporting the mental health of their staff, so they dont think once someones disclosed: “How quickly can I get them out of my workplace.” All staff you invest in theyve been trained, theyve built up organisational knowledge, contacts and so on. So if they then start struggling and you push them out of your workplace you lose all of that. And if you then recruit someone, bring them in and actually the reason that previous person struggled is that your workplace isnt the greatest, theyll hit that same wall so its kind of a revolving door. Were definitely trying to get employers to think more positively about mental health and see it as an issue they should address to improve employee engagement and so on. So we would hope that that would start having an impact. But in terms of how I would give someone advice about how to speak to their manager, I think its just been really clear about whats going on for you, and if you have any ideas about what could help, then having that conversation. So for me a couple of years ago I lost a family member in a car accident. I came back, I could do my job but the previous job I had at Mind, I often was taking calls from people who were living with a mental health problem, were in distress and were facing quite challenging situations. I found at that time because my resilience had taken a hit, I was really struggling to talk to people and maintain a professional distance, and manage what could be quite emotional conversations. So for two weeks, I didnt take calls. I got back to people by emails or via colleagues. Thats not covered by the Equality Act, thats not a mental health problem but it was something my manager could support me with and offer some flexibility around. So I think its just looking at what you are struggling with and what could maybe help. But equally you know sometimes you may not know, so its maybe just saying: “Lets just try this for a couple days and review.” 6. What support can our listeners typically expect to receive from their employer once they have disclosed their mental health issue? So for me, if someones said that theyre struggling and then their manager is responding to that, I think its about them sitting down and having a really good conversation about all the issues that are going on for that person. If its mainly about workplace issues and stresses, what needs to happen to address that, what extra support could the manager offer and so on? If its maybe a combination of work and home issues, it’s not for a manager to start sorting out someones personal problems at all. But your organisation might subscribe to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which you could signpost the person to, and they can often help with a whole host of life issues and give advice around. If you feel that the person is a manager, and if they feel that the person is really struggling with their mental health, again it might be about signposting and trying to encourage them to contact their GP and access health services. Or again if theres in-work health services provided or private medical insurance, then again signposting the person to those avenues of support. That would be part of a good response. Weve developed a tool called the Wellness Action Plan. So its based on a tool from the health world, that you know someones living with a mental health problem, they would develop a wellness recovery action plan with their health professional, which would cover what keeps them well, what causes them to experience poor mental health, what are some of the things to look out for. So the early warning signs and indicators that theyre starting to experience poor mental health, and then steps for the individual to take and steps for the health professional to take. Now I think its a really great framework for a conversation in a workplace context. As I said weve kind of repurposed the tool with permission, and weve produced guides on it. So again I think that it can help the manager in that conversation to give it a bit of a framework around what does the individual need to do and what does the manager need to do, so   being clear on roles and responsibilities. View  Minds Wellness Action Plan 7. Understandably, employees who have taken time off work to aid their recovery may be concerned about returning back to work. What advice would you give to any of our listeners who might be experiencing this situation? Well, I would hope that the organisation, their employer, their manager, had been managing that situation quite well and stayed in contact with the person to try and provide reassurances and support them in returning to work. I know often managers can say: “Oh I dont want to seem like Im putting pressure on them to come back too soon.” But you know that sometimes people can feel quite distant and disconnected from the organisation and removed if people arent staying in contact with the person. People often say I felt invisible. I think its a fine balance in terms of staying in contact while someones off. But there should be some agreement around that. And I think it would be good to be led by the person, either before they went off sick or when they first go off sick to say it would be good to you know stay in contact, keep you updated on developments, you keep us updated. What kind of frequency would work for you? Weekly? Fortnightly? What would you want? A text? A call? And you know, be led by that person. And then also say if that changes as time goes on and you want to make any changes to what weve agreed, please tell us. So that would be one thing I think, so having maintained contact with the person while theyre off should hopefully support that return to work. In terms of the person coming back to work. Again it is for the manager to manage that well. And for me, having good return to work interviews where you kind of capture a plan to support the person to come back, where you agree what their hours will look like and what kind of duties and tasks theyll be doing. What support might be helpful for the person? The manager should be taking a lead in all of that, but I guess for the individual, try and think through what would work for me. What do I think would be helpful and what kind of hours do I think Im able to do? Your GP should be able to help with this. If your organisation has occupational health then maybe you would have been referred for an assessment with them, and again they can feed into this process. So I guess yes, as said, its really thinking about what would be beneficial to you when you come back, and then maybe reflecting on some of the fears you have or anxieties you have about coming back and how you can talk to your manager about that. Especially if you know the time youve taken off was due to workplace issues. So thinking about going back into that environment, what do I need and so on? And then thinking through your first day, I know some people have said its really helpful if their manager has met them at the door to kind of walk with them over the threshold so to speak. And then also thinking about lunchtime plans. These are the softer sides of work, but I think it can make a real difference to your first day back to really think this stuff through. 8. Now for our last question. If you had one piece of advice for our listeners, what would it be? So for me, I think theres a real gap around mental health were not educated about it growing up the same as we are about our physical health. Youre not told what you need to do to maintain good mental health and what to do if you are starting to struggle. So I think taking some time to look into that and build your awareness of that and understand yourself. We have the kind of five fruit and veg a day for our physical health, and the government commissioned the New Economics Foundation to come up with the mental health equivalent. And they came up with the Five Ways to Wellbeing. These are activities and habits that you should build into your daily, weekly life. So one is around being active. There are huge links between your physical health and your mental health, investing in your physical health and being active. Keep learning and building new skills and knowledge and so on. The next one is around give, and thats about giving back to your community and volunteering, and how that can give you a sense of well-being. And one is around connecting, so building a support network and being connected to colleagues, friends, and family a    support system that you can draw on. And then taking notice, which is another term for mindfulness, which is really crossed over in terms of mainstream awareness, in terms of mental health. And you know t he reason mindfulness works is, if you worry about the future or if you ruminate on the past, trying to be grounded and connect to your physical senses and be present, kind of shuts off your busy mind. So those are some starters, but I would say you know everybodys different, so really think about and reflect on what works for you. And then Id say just make sure youre doing that stuff, and when you can feel quite busy at work sometimes then is the time when you let that stuff go. But thats a time when you need to really invest in it. So yes it’s definitely about that work-life balance, and maintaining a life outside work, and doing the stuff that you value. Five Ways to Mental Wellbeing from the New Economics Foundation Did you find this advice useful?   You may enjoy some of the related content below: Starting a new job? 3 steps to avoiding your workaholic ways Why men need to speak up about their mental health at work Using mindfulness to improve how we work together