Prioritising mental health in workplace

THE EDITOR: “To prioritise” means to designate or treat something as being most important. The theme for this year’s Mental Health Day was "It is Time to Prioritise Mental Health in the Workplace." It is most important that we recognise mental health in the workplace.

Every year we celebrate World Mental Health Day. In 2018, I had an article titled “Celebrating World Mental Health Day.” The theme was “Young People and Mental Health in a Changing World.” In light of what happened to a 15-year-old student of Stephen’s College, that brought a tear to my eye.

But back to mental health in the workplace. As far as I know there are work places which have employee assistance programmes (EAPs). There are many problems with making these EAPs accessible to who needs to make use of them.

Many employees have complained about not trusting the professional who is providing the service. It is the manager or supervisor who refers the employee to the EAP. Confidentiality is paramount. Some employees feel that their “business” is shared.

Those who are
au courant with EAPs and have issues with performance in the workplace can refer themselves to the programme. However, this has to be done with the knowledge of the supervisor or manager. To provide the employees with the trust, and openness to EAP, there must be ongoing training regarding:

1. What is, and who, provides the service?

2. Have open sessions which invite employees to discuss the need for EAPs.

There are employees who have problems at work, whose familial relationships are not happy environments, whose teenage children need assistance with making the right choices, and whose younger children appear to be autistic, or attention-deficit.

Parents are not sure what to do about this and EAPs have the psychologists who can work with them to define what is happening and what needs to be done.

Employees learn to accept what is happening and are now in a position to assist their children at home with what needs to be done for them to succeed in life. After accepting and learning to deal with the issues patiently, the family and the workplace can become very welcoming and happy environments for its members.

We must stop paying lip service to these themes, many of which are designated by WHO. We must take these matters very seriously if there is to be any change in the workplace and in our society.

ANNA MARIA MORA

counselling psychologist