Mental Health illness continues to be a huge challenge as new factors come into play, contributing to its rise. It is estimated that over 57 million US adults experience mental illness.
Many of these people struggling with mental health issues have to cope with them at the workplace. The problem with today’s competitive and fast-paced professional environment is that it puts a strain on people with mental illness.
The demands of the workplace can make it more challenging to manage mental healths while also increasing the risk of worsening mental disorders.
Let’s explore some of the challenges of managing mental health in a professional setting.
For Employers
Both employers and employees face hurdles surrounding mental health management in the workplace. Below are some of the difficulties employers deal with:
Identifying Mental Health Cases
Individuals struggling with mental healths problems in the workplace tend to keep it to themselves. That makes employers clueless, which adds to the challenge of identifying mental health cases.
Employers can address the challenge by encouraging staff members to come forward with their concerns.
In addition, HR teams, managers, and supervisors will need to pay attention to everyone’s baselines to see if they can spot unusual behavior that may cause concern.
Providing a Safe Environment
Employers tend to struggle to provide a safe environment that promotes mental health. Many companies don’t have programs that advocate mental healths awareness and support at the workplace.
There’s also a lack of systems that balance expectations, deadlines, and responsibilities to reduce pressure on employees. With such a balance in place, it would be easier for employers to create a happier and stress-free working environment.
Mental Health For Employees
Most of the challenges of mental healths management among professionals affect employees. Here are some of these difficulties from the perspective of workers and staff members.
Work Pressure
The modern professional landscape is plagued by excessive stress and pressure. The cutting-edge atmosphere has resulted in extreme competition that demands high-performance levels.
For employees, these demands translate into heavy workloads, strict timelines, and relentless pursuit of excellence. Over time, these things take a toll on workers’ mental healths.
The constant pressure and need to prove oneself by going the extra mile are characteristics of high-performing workplaces, but they are unhealthy. Workplaces can still be productive by promoting a healthy work-life balance.
Self-Care Mental Health
Observing self-care at the workplace is difficult because the environment is not designed to accommodate personal issues. As a professional, you will find that you prioritize work and leave everything else for the off hours.
The reality is that while your time is split between office hours and after-hours, your health doesn’t recognize this division.
You should be able to look after yourself regardless of where you are.
Workplaces can improve things by recognizing the value of self-care and creating measures that promote it, like offering regular breaks and flexible work arrangements.
Mental Health Stigma
Individuals with mental healths issues still have to deal with stigma, although the world has become more progressive. The growing awareness and support for inclusion still hasn’t completely changed many workplaces.
Employees struggle with discrimination, fear of judgment, and other repercussions, which limits open discussions about mental health in the workplace.
The normalization of silence when it comes to mental healths contributes to the persistent stigma in the workplace.
Treatment Options
Seeking treatment is a huge part of managing mental health, but it becomes a bit complicated when you have to work. For people with mental health struggles, treatment in a working environment can be a problem.
Depending on your workplace conditions, you may be able to maintain certain treatment options like medications, therapy, etc.
However, considering most drugs can affect your senses or energy levels, using them during work hours is discouraged or even prohibited.
A good example is cannabis strains like Blueberry Muffin, which can relieve mental healths issues. Marijuana Doctors discusses the strain in detail. While these forms of treatment help people with mental health challenges, they are not suitable for the workplace.
Conclusion
Managing mental health has always had challenges, but it becomes even more challenging within a professional setting, which allows limited solutions. Positive changes can only happen through collective effort.
Employers, workers, and communities need to advocate for a healthy work environment that emphasizes the well-being of the workforce.
