- “I’d be lying to you if I’d say I haven’t been mentally affected by changes brought upon by the pandemic. Truth is, talking openly about it is neither seen nor felt as safe by most.” Stephane de Montlivault – President, Asia Pacific at Otis
- “Work-related mental health conditions, (also known as psychological injuries), have become a major concern in Australian workplaces due to the negative impact on individual employees. The earlier a worker is identified as experiencing work-related stress, the sooner steps can be taken to prevent a work-related mental health condition developing or an existing condition worsening.” SafeWork Australia.
The situation today: “Mental health can be adversely affected by exposure to a range of hazards or factors in the workplace.” (SafeWork Australia).
Exposure to the hazards below can lead to work-related stress in turn leading to work-related psychological or physical injury:
- high job demand
- low job demand
- poor support
- poor workplace relationships
- low role clarity
- poor organisational change management
- poor organisational justice
- poor environmental conditions
- remote or isolated work, and
- violent or traumatic events.
WHS laws require employers to eliminate or minimise work-related psychosocial risks as far as is reasonably practical. Workers have a duty to take reasonable care of their health and safety and not adversely affect others’ health and safety. It also makes good business sense to prevent or minimise risks to psychological health.
Workplaces can use the ‘People at Work’ free online risk assessment tool to identify and manage work-related risks to psychological health and compare themselves to other workplaces.
Also, ‘The Work-related psychological health and safety guide’ provides information on how a Business or PCBU, ‘persons conducting a business or undertaking’, can meet WHS duties in relation to psychological health and safety, describing a systematic approach to managing work-related psychological health and safety, including preventing harm by eliminating or minimising risks, intervening early and supporting recovery.
So, today the preeminent question is – ‘How do we recognise mental stress and psychological injuries in the workplace?’
During my career I too have met with the ‘black dog’, the infamous moniker applied to bouts of depression as experienced by Sir Winston Churchill.
I now work alongside the Black Dog Institute as a volunteer community presenter, sharing insights on ‘Breaking Down Depression’ either face-to-face or, as is now in the covid norm, by webinar.
Black Dog Institute is a research Institute and not-for-profit organisation that aims to contribute to a mentally healthier world by reducing the incidence of mental illness and suicide, by removing stigma and by empowering everyone to live the most mentally healthy life possible, especially now as we learn to ‘Live with Covid’.
Black Dog Institute’s model is designed to rapidly translate evidence-based research findings so as to address mental health issues in the clinic, in the community, in the schoolyard, and in the workplace.
To help yourself or others, we first need to have a better understanding of mental illness. Mental illness is common. Knowing more about mental illness means we can better help ourselves, or those that we care about:
- 1 in 5 Australians will experience a mental illness in any given year….with 50% of Australians experiencing a mental illness at some point in their lifetime.
- Mental illness can happen to anyone. Our challenge is that so many people do not reach out for support, ending up doing it very tough on their own, and tragically, people do die from mental illness.
- Suicide is the leading cause of death for people aged 15–44. But suicide is preventable.
- We know that stigma and misunderstanding are still getting in the way of people talking about what is going on for them and reaching out for support when it’s needed.
- It is vital to seek help early to avoid longer-term suffering.
So, how can we intervene early? 
Well, the first step is learning how to recognise the signs and symptoms and know when to seek help. It is important to understand when normal moods, or normal sadness, turns into something more serious. It is essential to remember that mild mood swings are normal:
- The fact is that at some time or other we all experience periods when we feel low or down; have a drop in our sense of self-worth and feel somewhat depressed.
- Experiences such as having a bad day at work, an argument or hearing some bad news can impact on our mood, our self-esteem, our confidence, even making us feel more pessimistic.
- Sometimes we may even feel sad for no reason at all.
Fortunately, in most cases, we ‘bounce back’. So, how do you know if what you’re experiencing is depression or just normal sadness? The two key things to keep a check on in regard to depression are:
- Your mood – are you feeling consistently down, no matter what’s going on around you?
- Your levels of enjoyment – are the things you usually enjoy leaving you flat?
If you’re feeling consistently down and losing the enjoyment out of things that you normally get enjoyment from, and these feelings have been going on for two weeks or longer, that’s a sign that you should talk to someone about it.
Depression is not just feeling sad, it can be not feeling anything at all, often topped off with an overwhelming feeling of guilt and hopelessness. Despite the toughness of depression, it can be managed and talking about it is the first step.
It is important to be aware of when normal sadness turns into clinical depression. The main symptoms of this are:
- Lowered self-esteem
- Feeling hopeless
- Unable to enjoy life
- Reduced motivation
- Sleep, appetite and/or weight changes
- Less ability to control emotions – pessimism, anger, guilt, irritability and anxiety
- Varying emotions throughout the day – feeling worse in the morning, improving as the day progresses
- Poor concentration and memory
- Lowered energy levels
- Reduced pain tolerance
- Suicidal thoughts
If you are concerned that you may have depression, you can take the Black Dog Institute confidential ‘Self-test’:
The general rule of thumb is if 5 or more of the symptoms above persist, for most of everyday, for 2 weeks or longer, and these symptoms interfere with a person’s ability to manage at home or at work…then it is time to seek help in the form of an assessment by a GP or psychiatrist.
The most common mental illness experienced in Australia is ‘anxiety’. It’s normal to feel stressed or worried from time to time, and, in small doses, it can actually help us to perform at our best:
- anxiety tends to be limited in duration and connected with some stressful situation or event, like busy periods at work.
- anxiety becomes a problem when feelings of worry and fear become really strong and don’t go away.
- these feelings interfere with your ability to carry out your every-day tasks; or enjoy your day-to-day life.
The fear and worry is combined with uncomfortable physical symptoms such as hot and cold flushes, racing heart, tightening of the chest, quick breathing, restlessness, feeling tense, wound up and edgy.
It’s also important to know that it’s ‘ok to not be ok’ and there is help and support available for whenever you might need it.
It may be time to seek help if you notice multiple warning signs of depression and anxiety, especially if they are having a significant impact on your daily functioning. Remember:
- with depression, you should seek help if the symptoms are ongoing for more than two weeks.
- for anxiety, the warning signs would be occurring for more days than not in the past six months.
There are lots of ways for us to support ourselves and our loved ones:
- The Black Dog Institute ‘Online Clinic’ which takes you through a range of clinical assessments for common mental health conditions. You’ll receive a personalised report, with suggested support services and free, or low-cost, resources for you to access. (Note that this is not a substitute for professional clinical advice).
- There are lots of great resources to help you gather more information about mental health. For instance ‘MyCompass’, an on-line interactive self-help program to help you to manage mild to moderate stress, anxiety and depression. Whether you need help now, or want to prepare for the future, MyCompass will teach you ways to boost your mental fitness, simply visit mycompass.org.au
Should you be concerned about someone, you can make a real difference by ‘reaching out to them’ or letting them ‘know that you are there for them’.
- Staying connected, reaching out and checking in on each other is key.
- Use the wonders of social media, including regular Zoom webinars, to stay connected.
- Key personnel at your workplace, your GP and psychologist, family and close friends are all integral players in staying connected, reaching out and checking on each other.
- Cognitive Behaviour Techniques (CBTs) such as ‘Breathing’ and ‘Mindfulness’ activities are valuable coping techniques.
We all want to be a good friend to those close to us, but sometimes it can be tough knowing what to do, or even to say, to show our support, or that we care for our mates…enter RUOK?
The team at RUOK? have some great tips for how to reach out to a friend or family member who you are concerned about. Firstly, choose a time and place that is suitable for your conversation:
- Ask ‘RUOK?’ Let the person know why you are concerned, and the behaviours that you’ve noticed that may be out of character for that person. For example, you may have noticed that they seem to be more stressed than usual.
- Listen, without judgement. Just listening is an invaluable way you can be there for someone. You don’t need to try to solve the problem, or fix things; just be there to hear them out.
- You may wish to encourage action, such as talking to a health professional or accessing information and support on-line on sites such as ‘MyCompass’.
- Check in over time, to see how they are travelling, and let them know that you’re there to listen if needed.
- You can also let people know that you’re thinking of them via text and email.
Conversations aren’t always easy, but no matter the response you get, letting someone know that you care about them is always, always the right thing to do.
So: “Have a conversation with someone you are worried about in your workplace”
And: “Do seek support if you are concerned about your own mental health”
As you can see, through my involvement with the Black Dog Institute I have learnt to embrace the fact that I have a mental illness; that I can now recognise the triggers and that I am aware of all the coping strategies and support that are available.
