Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Hide and Seek

The sights, sounds, and smells of the holidays are all around us and obvious. Sometimes, too obvious. But unlike presents under the tree, what’s not always obvious are the mental health struggles some people face, particularly at this time of year.

Guide Magazine

While Christmas is a wonderful time for many people celebrating with friends and family, it can be a time of great stress and loneliness for some. For those suffering with a mental health issue, the holidays often make their pain that much more acute.

Unlike in a good game of hide and seek, where those hiding are either discovered or triumphantly proclaim “Home free!,” detecting that someone—even a loved one or co-worker—is struggling with a mental health problem can be extremely difficult.

Many of our co-workers suffer in silence, or put up a good front. Even those with experience and training with mental illness can miss the signs of someone struggling. People are very good at hiding their difficulties—lest they be discovered as having something “wrong” with them.

It’s easy as employees to dismiss mental health at work as an issue that belongs to management. While it’s true that workplace leaders have significant responsibility for setting or changing workplace culture, as with physical safety, the mental well-being of our co-workers belongs to all of us.

We work with each other. As co-workers and as fellow human beings, we have a duty to care for each other.

That duty doesn’t stop at checking to make sure our colleague is wearing proper personal protective equipment and following proper safety procedures.

What good does it do to make sure your co-worker is wearing his hard hat if he’s drinking so much he won’t make it until next Christmas?

But if detecting that one of our co-workers is struggling is so difficult, what can we possibly do? After all, we can’t help those who don’t want to be helped.

No, but we can create an atmosphere at work where people aren’t afraid to ask for help.

7 Tips for Seeking Mental Safety at Work

1. Recognize – Our workplace isn’t just a place full of individuals going about their jobs. We need to recognize that we are part of a work community where we not only have each other’s back but each other’s mind. We’re all in this together.

2. Educate – Learn about mental illness, what some of the signs are, and how to spot them. Learn what you can do to help. Take a mental health first-aid course.

3. Promote – If mental health is not a regular agenda item at your workplace’s health and safety meetings, suggest it. Mental health awareness should be promoted wherever possible in your workplace.

4. Watch – Be on the lookout for unhealthy conversations and behaviours. If you’re unsure about something a co-worker said or did, find out. Talk to them and let them know you’re concerned. Check with your other colleagues. They also may have observed something and may be afraid to talk about it.

5. Ask – Not sure if your co-worker may be struggling? Ask them. It’s okay to make your concern known. However, asking but not bothering to listen to or follow-up on a response, or quickly changing the subject, only says that you don’t really care.

6. Share – Don’t be afraid to talk with each other about mental health. Share your knowledge and experience.

7. Model – When you show genuine concern for your colleague, when you talk about mental health, you’re modelling that positive behaviour to everyone else in your workplace. That’s how community is built. It can’t be mandated, but it can be demonstrated. If it’s lacking in your workplace, don’t hesitate to take those first positive steps.

Source: cos-mag.com

Hide and Seek

7 Tips for Seeking Mental Safety at Work

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