The numbers are staggering: 1 in 5 Australian adults will experience a mental illness every year; a figure which stacks up to 48% of us over our lifetime.
A recent FIFO/DIDO Mental Health Research Report recommends that organisations develop supports that focus on increasing help-seeking behavior with FIFO populations as well as address stigma and increasing mental health literacy.
People often know a lot about common physical health problems, yet there is widespread ignorance or misunderstanding of mental health problems. This adds to stigmatising attitudes and prevents people from seeking help early; and seeking the best sort of help.
I have worked with many staff in the mining industry who either had pre-existing mental health issues that they felt were exacerbated by the demands of their work conditions, or who had developed mental health problems and felt that their work conditions had led to the development of the illness. Unfortunately these people have reported very diverse attitudes to mental health issues in their workplace. I have had some FIFO workers report gratitude for the support they have received from supervisors and colleagues – of particular value given their isolation from family and usual support networks whilst working away. Many others however report that their workplaces at best provide EAP services, but that there was a high level of stigma around mental health issues. So, whilst they might be able to access services through their EAP provider, they did not feel that they could talk about their needs with their supervisors or managers and problems could then become bigger and harder to deal with.
WHAT DOES THIS COST YOUR MINE SITE?
Human toll aside, the economic impacts of untreated mental health issues in the workplace include increased absenteeism and presenteeism (decreased productivity), decreased morale, and higher staff turnover.
What does this cost your workplace? It’s estimated that every employee with untreated depression alone, in Australian workplaces, costs almost $10,000 per year. However, little effort is made to offset these losses despite research that shows that every dollar invested in the mental health of your employees will have a 500% return in regained productivity.
INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS
To be able to start to reduce the costs – both financial and to individuals, we really need to improve mental health literacy in our workplaces. We can’t just look to tertiary level strategies such as EAP services. We must look at primary strategies such as policies and procedures around responding appropriately to mental health issues in the workplace (training managers and supervisors in how to implement these); as well as secondary strategies such as skill building for individuals to better manage the impacts of FIFO and DIDO work on their mental health and wellbeing. A proactive and preventative approach is necessary, which can then be supported by EAP services, rather than just leaving problems to manifest and hoping that EAP services will provide a solution.
IS YOUR MENTAL HEALTH AND THE MENTAL HEALTH OF YOUR COLLEAGUES IMPORTANT? WILL YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?
Blooming Minds provides group training and individual consultancy services to assist organisations to understand the impact of mental health problems in their workplace and to minimise the human and economic impacts of employee stress, anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses.
PROFILE
TASHA BROOMHALL
Tasha Broomhall is the Director and Lead Facilitator for Blooming Minds WA Pty Ltd. She has been providing mental health and wellbeing training programs throughout Australia for more than 13 years, including guest lecturing at both Murdoch and Curtin Universities and presentations at local and national industry conferences. Tasha is an engaging presenter who delivers a serious topic in a warm, engaging and humorous style. Tasha has a background in psychology, disability, employment, psycho-social rehabilitation and aged care services.
Tasha has a keen interest in reducing the stigma about mental illness and increasing mental health literacy in our communities and workplaces. She has developed workplace wellbeing programs to assist people to take responsibility for their own mental health and wellbeing and to act proactively in supporting the mental health of those around them. Tasha has worked on and off-site with staff in the mining sector to enhance their capacities to recognise and appropriately respond to mental health issues in their workplaces, and to equip them with the knowledge and skills to proactively manage their mental health and wellbeing.
Tasha provides thought provoking and informative keynote presentations at conferences as well as specialised managers training and individual skill development courses in the area of mental health and mental illness. Blooming Minds have also developed Mental Illness in the Workplace Policy Templates and guidelines for company’s to develop proactive strategies around workplace mental health issues which are available for purchase.
Not sure what your organisations needs are in this area? Engage Blooming minds to conduct an audit in your workplace.
For more information on Blooming Minds’ services
visit www.bloomingminds.com.au,
call +61 (08) 6401 3499, mobile +61 (0)447 619 506.
Proudly partnering with OneLife Suicide Prevention Strategy and Manna Inc.
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