Today (Thursday 10 October) is World Mental Health Day and this year’s theme, set by the World Health Organisation, workplace mental health. HARRIETTE LUSCOMB explores why this is such an important theme.
In the UK, the Office for National Statistics has reported 54 months (that’s four-and-a-half years!) of growth in long term sickness absence, with more than half of those involved citing depression, bad nerves or anxiety. These numbers shouldn’t just be alarming to big bosses, they should be a distress signal to act for us all.
However, we sometimes feel powerless at work to change things. Our own mental health is too important to leave in the hands of our employers. We need to know and understand what contributes to good mental health in the workplace and how we can improve ours. For example, things like increasing positive emotions, feeling engaged, developing work relationships, finding meaning in our work and having a sense of accomplishment have a proven impact on our mental health. The trick is knowing how to cultivate them.
Here’s five top tips on how you can start to develop them and “own” your mental health at work.
1/ Start focusing on the things that are good about work, and why they happened to you. This is based on the concept of gratitude journaling which is a proven positive psychology tool to help boost positive emotions. It may be something you’ve already tried. Noticing the positive things that are happening to us helps us to refocus our brains away from the negative. The thing that makes this exercise extra impactful is noting why these positive things have happened to us because it helps us see and understand how we made them happen. Give it a go over seve days and see if it increases the positive emotions you feel at work.
2/ Take time to build relationships with your colleagues. Having a workplace ‘bestie’ is proven to help us feel more engaged at work and pushes us to go above and beyond when required. It means that grabbing a coffee or going for a walk with a colleague is not slacking off but helping us build high quality connections that will improve our mental wellbeing at work.
3/ Celebrate the small ‘wins’ every day and acknowledge the strengths you have that made them happen. When we move at a fast pace all the time, we can forget to acknowledge all the things we are succeeding at. We just move straight onto the next thing on our to-do list. My challenge to you, next time you tick something off your list, nail a presentation or tackle a tricky conversation, take a second to celebrate it. Maybe it’s coffee or a walk around the block, but take a minute to remind yourself that you achieved something great, and the skills that helped you do it.
4/ Give yourself some proper time to focus on bigger things. One of the things that we are incredibly good at is letting ourselves get distracted. We pay attention to a lot of things for very short amounts of time. This can be useful when there is a lot on the go, but it robs us of the opportunity to get deeply engaged and focused on something. Psychologists call this finding your flow – when time stands still because you are so consumed by what you are doing. Next time you have something big to do, pop your phone in another room, turn off anything that will beep, buzz or flash at you – and get your head stuck into it!
5/ Take the time to say thank you. Taking the time to be kind to others is proven to be a win-win – making both you and the recipient feel better! Find five minutes at the end of your day to say ‘thank you’ to someone who helped you. It could be in person, a call, a text – or what about an old-school ‘thank you’ card? It’s the quickest way to spread positive vibes and will have a wonderful impact on your mental health. Give it a go!
Main picture: Centre for Ageing Better. Above picture: Alexis Brown. Both pictures provided via Unsplash.
ENDS
