Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace (eBook)

A Practical Guide for Employers and Employees

Gill Hasson, Donna Butler (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 2. Auflage
263 Seiten
Capstone (Verlag)
978-1-907312-99-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Provides guidance for both employers and staff on promoting positive mental health and supporting those experiencing mental ill health in the workplace

The importance of good mental health and wellbeing in the workplace is a subject of increased public awareness and governmental attention. The Department of Health advises that one in four people will experience a mental health issue at some point in their lives. Although a number of recent developments and initiatives have raised the profile of this crucial issue, employers are experiencing challenges in promoting the mental health and wellbeing of their employees. Mental Health & Wellbeing in the Workplace contains expert guidance for improving mental health and supporting those experiencing mental ill health.

This comprehensive book addresses the range of issues surrounding mental health and wellbeing in work environments - providing all involved with informative and practical assistance. Authors Gill Hasson and Donna Butler examine changing workplace environment for improved wellbeing, shifting employer and employee attitudes on mental health, possible solutions to current and future challenges and more. Detailed, real-world case studies illustrate a variety of associated concerns from both employer and employee perspectives. This important guide:

• Explains why understanding mental health is important and its impact on businesses and employees
• Discusses why and how to promote mental health in the workplace and the importance of having an effective 'wellbeing strategy'
• Provides guidance on managing staff experiencing mental ill health
• Addresses dealing with employee stress and anxiety
• Features resources for further support if experiencing mental health issues
• Introduces the concept of being an 'active bystander' and its role in creating a safer and more inclusive workplace environment
• Includes up-to-date links to relevant research and websites for further reading and support

Mental Health & Wellbeing in the Workplace, Second Edition is a valuable resource for those in the workplace wanting to look after their physical and mental wellbeing, and those looking for guidance in managing staff with mental health issues.

Textauszug

1
Understanding Mental Health and Wellbeing

A state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community.

World Health Organization

Defining Mental Health and Wellbeing

Our mental health affects the way we experience the world; how we think, feel, and behave towards ourselves and others. WHO defines mental health as a ‘state of well-being’ and just as physical health is intrinsic to wellbeing, so is mental health.

The mental health organization ‘Mind’ suggests that if you have good mental wellbeing you are able to:

• feel relatively confident in yourself and have positive self-esteem;
• feel and express a range of emotions;
• build and maintain good relationships with others;
• feel engaged with the world around you;
• live and work productively;
• deal with the stresses of daily life;
• adapt and manage in times of change and uncertainty.

Both Mind and the World Health Organization’s definition of mental health refer to a person’s wellbeing. But is wellbeing the same as wellness?

When you think about wellness, think prevention and health. When you think about well-being, think happiness.

Susie Ellis. Chair of the Global Wellness Institute

Certainly, happiness is important, but there is more to wellbeing than the positive feelings that come with happiness. Both WHO and Mind recognize that wellbeing involves not just happiness but, crucially, the ability to manage difficulties, problems, and challenges; the ‘normal stresses’.

In 2012, Cardiff Metropolitan University professors Rachel Dodge and Annette P. Daly et al. published their report The Challenge of Defining Wellbeing. Having reviewed and analysed past attempts by other researchers to define wellbeing, they concluded that ‘it would be appropriate for a definition of wellbeing to centre on a state of equilibrium or balance that can be affected by life events or challenges’. Consequently, they define wellbeing as: ‘the balance point between an individual’s resource pool and the challenges faced’.

In other words, wellbeing occurs when a person is able to enjoy life and has the resources to draw on to manage life’s ups and downs without feeling overly stressed. Therefore, an important component of wellbeing is resilience; the ability to cope with, as well as bounce back and recover from, difficulties and challenges.

Dimensions of Wellbeing: Social, Emotional, and Spiritual

There is no health without mental health.

Dr Brock Chisholm, Psychiatrist and first Director General of the World Health Organization

One of the key aspects of mental wellbeing is our emotional wellbeing. Emotional wellbeing refers to a person’s ability to recognize, manage, and adapt to a range of emotions in a positive, constructive way. It involves self-awareness, understanding one’s emotional limits, knowing when to seek support, and adapting to life’s challenges and changes. Good emotional wellbeing contributes to overall mental health and the ability to function effectively in daily life.

Our social wellbeing is important too. Social wellbeing is the ability to build and maintain good relationships with others. Social wellbeing is the extent to which you feel a sense of belonging and social inclusion. The UK Faculty of Public Health suggests that social wellbeing is ‘the basis for social equality and the antidote to issues such as racism, stigma, violence and crime’ and that it is dependent on, amongst other things, ‘the norm with regard to interpersonal relationships in a group, community or society, including respect for others and their needs, compassion and empathy, and authentic interaction’.

Another feature of wellbeing – just as important as social, mental, and emotional wellbeing, but not so widely acknowledged – is spiritual wellbeing. Spirituality refers to a sense of being connected to something bigger and more everlasting than yourself.

Spiritual wellbeing means the ability to experience and integrate meaning and purpose in life through a person’s connectedness with self, others, art, music, literature, nature, or a power greater than oneself.

Spiritual wellbeing is about our inner life and its relationship with the wider world … Spiritual wellbeing does not just reflect religious belief although for people of a religious faith it is obviously a central feature.

Dr Ritika Srivastava

Physical and Mental Health and Wellbeing

Distinctions are often made between mind and body, but when it comes to mental health and wellbeing and physical health and wellbeing, we can’t think of them as separate entities. Poor physical health can lead to a person developing mental health problems. And poor mental health can have a negative impact on our physical health and wellbeing.

A physical health problem can impact on our cognitive and emotional abilities; adversely affecting our daily lives, our work, and our relationships. Conversely, if our mental health is suffering as a result of, for example, stress, depression, or anxiety, we are less likely to eat and sleep well and may be less physically active which, in turn, can impact our immune system and so our ability to resist infections and illness can be depleted.

Just as when we neglect and ignore our physical health we can become physically unwell, it’s also the case that if we ignore or suppress difficult feelings we can become physically unwell.

When we are exposed to stressful experiences or trauma, we can, without realizing it, banish the experience to the unconscious; it’s too much to deal with and it’s pushed down to the basement of our minds. Eventually – sometimes years later – the stressful/traumatic experience can present as a mental health problem, for example an anxiety disorder. But a stressful or traumatic experience can also manifest itself as a physical disorder.

Case Study

One evening, Catrice was reversing her car into the garage, when she heard a scream. She had reversed the car over her partner, Julie. Unknown to Catrice, Julie was sitting on the floor at the back of the garage, fixing her bike. Horrified and shocked, Catrice called an ambulance and Julie was taken to hospital. Although she had sustained serious injuries, they were not life threatening and in time, Julie recovered. However, a week after Julie’s admission to hospital, Catrice developed a weakness in her lower limbs. Eventually she found that she was unable to stand; each time she tried, her legs gave way from underneath her.

Following weeks of tests, X-rays, physiotherapy assessments, and orthopaedic referral, Catrice’s GP, believing that she was experiencing a ‘somatic response’ – a physical response to an emotional trauma – referred her to a psychotherapist.

Catrice had blocked the feelings – the trauma, stress, and guilt – she experienced as a result of Julie’s suffering, but those blocked feelings had manifested themselves as physical symptoms. With support from a psychotherapist, Catrice recovered; she was able to forgive herself for the pain and suffering Julie had been through as a result of her actions.

People with mental health problems are more likely to develop physical health problems and vice versa. Furthermore, people with mental health problems can present to their GP or employer complaining of physical symptoms that have no physical cause. This can sometimes lead to missed or delayed detection of the underlying mental health problem. The interaction between physical and mental health is complex and it is often difficult to determine the direction of causal relationships.

Professor Dame Carol Black

In the same way that the repression of stressful experiences can become a physical problem, physical health can impact on our mental health.

Psoriasis – an auto-immune condition affecting a person’s skin – is an example of a condition which can impact on mental as well as physical wellbeing. The 2023 study by Wang et al., ‘Evidence for a causal association between psoriasis and psychiatric disorders’ published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, found that 20–50% of patients with psoriasis have depression and anxiety.

The physical and psychological impacts can be cyclically linked: the condition can cause emotional distress which can trigger a psoriasis flare and, as a result, cause further distress.

Wellbeing Is Subjective

A myriad of factors influence health and well-being, though many are familiar only to those who experience them.

Professor Dame Carol Black

Although there are key aspects to wellbeing – physical, mental and emotional, social and spiritual – wellbeing is subjective; each and every one of us has our own individual thoughts and beliefs about what makes for wellbeing. Our thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and experiences are framed in a narrative – we each have our own story – our own explanation or account of our wellbeing and what may or may not influence it.

For example, one person’s account of their...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 27.10.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie
• Schlagworte: workplace mental health • workplace mental health guide • workplace mental health help • workplace mental health resources • workplace mental illness • workplace mental ill support • Workplace Wellbeing • workplace wellbeing guide • workplace wellbeing help
• ISBN-10: 1-907312-99-4 / 1907312994
• ISBN-13: 978-1-907312-99-1 / 9781907312991