Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Life Preserver

Living with a mental health issue can often feel like drowning. How can employers, coworkers, and the union work together to throw a line to someone who is struggling?

Guide Magazine

By Alison Brown

ONE IN FIVE. THAT’S HOW MANY Canadians live with a mental health issue. Following a global pandemic that kicked our collective feet out from under us, 54 percent of Canadians report their mental health has worsened since 2020. The mental health repercussions of the pandemic are now being seen on a massive scale.

“It’s not a stretch to say that most if not all of these mental health issues were lying in the proverbial weeds, waiting,” says Quentin Steen, a representative based in Kelowna, BC, and mental health first aid instructor certified by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Quentin also writes the Monthly Mental Health Moment series of blogs on CLAC’s website, Your Voice.

“All it took for them to come out of hiding was a pandemic, and you’re seeing more people struggling across sectors. All it takes is a seminal event like a pandemic, and it brings everything to the surface.”

In his role as a representative and mental health aid instructor, Quentin has noticed three categories of people whose mental health has been affected by the pandemic.

The first, he says, are people who didn’t have any diagnosable mental health issues who suddenly found themselves to be feeling more anxious than usual, which is a normal response to a catastrophic event like a global pandemic.

“Those people are faced with a choice,” says Quentin. “They can ignore it, or they can pay attention to it.”

The second category of people have no language to describe their mental health and think they’re just feeling “down.”

“Everyone’s feeling down, so they don’t do anything about it; they just know they’re not feeling right,” says Quentin. “But during the pandemic, when we lacked a lot of distractions and many were forced to look inward for the first time, they began to realize that what they were feeling was a lot bigger than just being ‘down,’ and they started to get language around it.”

The third category of people already dealt with mental health issues, which the pandemic just exacerbated.

“Those with preexisting mental health disorders found their struggles amplified, so they had to spend more time managing it,” says Quentin. “But these three categories of people have always existed; the pandemic just shone a light on it.”

ACCORDING TO THE CANADIAN MENTAL Health Association, the world is in the midst of a mental health crisis. Like a physical injury or illness, mental illness is not something you leave at the door when you punch in to work and is often just as debilitating.

The first thing those struggling with their mental health need to remember is how common it is and how it can be viewed the same as physical health.

“People don’t feel shame because they have diabetes or if they break their collarbone,” says Quentin. “It’s something that happened to you. Same with mental illness. It’s something that happened to you, not something that’s wrong with you.”

When a mental health issue becomes so debilitating that it needs to be accommodated, employers need to treat it in the same way they treat physical illness.

“Laws dictate that the duty is on the employer to create a safe work environment for their employees, physically and mentally,” says Quentin. “It hasn’t always been like that, and unfortunately some employers don’t see, recognize, or appreciate the symbiotic nature of the two. We still have work to do. When an employee is suffering with their mental health, it can often be more debilitating than a broken collarbone, for example. You can heal from a broken collarbone, but trauma and mental illness is something you work with your whole life.”

Whether an employee takes a leave of absence, modified duties, or short or long term disability, the goal should be to return to work in some capacity.

“Community is medicine, especially for mental health,” says Quentin. “Some workplaces are toxic, and that can be a problem, but it’s so important for those who have a mental health struggle to return to normalcy. Working with your hands, creating something, that gives you a sense of purpose, and there’s a certain pride that goes along with that.”

But while the onus is on the employer to create a safe work environment, the employee must also do the work on themselves.

“If you have a mental illness diagnosis, you’re probably not going to outgrow it or heal from it like you would a broken bone,” says Quentin. “But you learn your triggers, how to manage the symptoms, and how to deal with it. That means you have to do the internal work, too. If you had a collarbone injury, you wouldn’t keep playing softball. You’d rest, get the appropriate medicine, go to physio. Same with mental illness. You have to take care of yourself. That’s how mental health accommodation works. There’s responsibility on both the employee and employer.”

MENTAL ILLNESS CAN BE DIFFICULT to accommodate because, unlike physical illnesses, it is invisible by nature and relies on self-reporting. Because of this, employers and coworkers often do not believe the person requiring accommodation.

“Do some people play the ‘mental health card?’ Yes, but some people also fake physical injuries,” says Quentin. “But the malingering rate [those who feign illness or injury to get out of work] in Canada is only 15 percent. The key for coworkers is to have empathy. It’s wrong and not very helpful to assume someone is faking it and supplant yourself in their situation, because you don’t have the full story. You can’t say, ‘Well, I have issues too, and I still get up every day and go to work,’ because your resilience may be different, and they may suffer from trauma that you can’t see.”

It’s this exact stigma that prevents people from getting the help they need and may cause their symptoms to worsen.

“No one wants to be labelled or thought of as not being able to handle it,” says Quentin. “The stigma that stereotypes people and labels them is such a barrier for some people to get help, so they’ll convince themselves they don’t have a problem and that they shouldn’t talk about it, especially if they’re in a leadership position. But mental illness doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care if you’re a neuroscientist or a nurse, a heavy equipment operator or a manager. It doesn’t care about your gender, your sexuality, your socioeconomic status, your personality, your position, your education. It’s a predator, and no one is immune.”

IF MENTAL ILLNESS IS SO widespread, yet so misunderstood, what can we do to help ourselves, and help each other?

“It’s like air in a tank,” says Quentin. “If you dive, you only have so much air. And if you don’t replace that oxygen, you’re not going to be able to stay under the water that long. You’re going to have to surface, and hopefully you don’t surface with more issues.”

Quentin’s number-one advice for those struggling with their mental health is to talk about it.

“The more we talk about what we’re going through, the easier it becomes, and the more it makes others comfortable to talk about their issues, too,” he says. “It starts with us.”

Secondly, ask for help.

“People won’t know you need a life preserver unless you shout for help,” he says. “You don’t have to push your uncomfortable feelings away or drown them or manhandle them yourself. You don’t have to have a stiff upper lip and white-knuckle your way through the pain.”

Another key is recognizing that there’s no Band-Aid solution to mental health issues. Getting help is not a one-time thing but asking for the life preserver over and over again.

“Relapse in mental health is part of growth,” says Quentin. “What happens to the trees whenever winter hits? The leaves fall off. They go into stasis. But then they come back different the next year. When your leaves fall off, you don’t need to cut down the tree. You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re just in a season. And that’s okay. You just need to see how you can help the process of greening up again.”

FOR THOSE WANTING TO THROW their struggling coworkers a line, Quentin suggests getting educated on the complexities of mental health, and above all, practice empathy.

This is why CLAC has partnered with the Mental Health Commission of Canada to offer Mental Health First Aid Training, which teaches people the skills to provide early intervention to a person developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis.

“Mental health first aid is a great starting point because it shines a light on the most common mental health illnesses and crises, and shows you the steps to support an individual having a mental health crisis,” says Quentin.

“But above all, have empathy. To be truly empathetic requires that we’re open-minded enough to seek to understand others. Lead with curiosity rather than your opinions. Be compassionate about their narrative as much as your own. And remember that compassion for others begins with compassion for self.”

Mental Health in the Workplace

By the Numbers

1 in 5 Canadians live with a mental health issue.
50% of people will develop a mental illness in their lifetime.
1 in 5 Canadian workers experience fatigue, sleeping problems, and headaches caused by mental health issues.
23% of Canadian workers experience physical health problems caused by stress, anxiety, or major depression.
20% of sick leaves are related to mental health.
35 million sick days are lost to mental health conditions among 10 million workers.
65% of Canadian workers say they would not disclose a mental health problem to their employer for fear of repercussions.
54% of Canadians reported facing discrimination for their mental health problems.

Key Definitions

MENTAL ILLNESS
Diagnosed disorder of thought, mood, or behaviour that has been present for an extended period of time and causes significant distress

MENTAL HEALTH CONCERN
A concern held by an individual due to a perceived deficit in mood or thought that is distressing but has not been present for an extended period of time

5 Most Common Mental Illnesses

1.   Anxiety disorders, such as general anxiety disorder or agoraphobia
2.   Major depressive disorder
3.   Bipolar disorder
4.   Schizophrenia
5.   Eating disorders

Distress Signals

5 signs someone is struggling with a mental illness
1.   Significant changes in behaviour
2.   Deterioration of work performance
3.   Increased emotionality
4.   Marked changes in personal hygiene/dress
5.   Loss of interest in formerly enjoyable activities

How You Can Help

Reach out > Listen > Support

Do
•   Put things in writing
•   Check in, monitor, and reevaluate new information or a change in behaviour
•   Be patient; keep your door open
•   Know what options for help are available/possible before you talk to the person

Don’t
•   Force someone to talk
•   Nag, plead, beg, bribe, threaten, or manipulate
•   Criticize or shame
•   Pry

4 Mental Health Resources to Help You

1.   If you or someone you know is struggling with a mental health issue, CLAC has a number of resources and interactive tools available to help you in myCLAC under My Health and Wellness.
2.   Stronger Minds (mindbeacon.com/strongerminds-home) features quick reads from mental health experts, activities to help you gain resilience, and ask-an-expert videos in response to questions.
3.   Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) provides accessible, reliable, and professionally produced resources on an array of health topics including (but not limited to): addictions, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression, etc.
4.   Wellness Together Canada: Mental Health and Substance Use Support (ca.portal.gs) provides free online resources, tools, apps, and connections to trained volunteers and qualified mental health professionals.

Sources: Mental Health Commission of Canada, Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, Lancaster House, Angus Reid, Conference Board of Canada