The month of October has been declared National Mental Health Awareness Month, with the objective of not only educating the public about mental health, but also to reduce the stigma and discrimination that people with mental health challenges and mental illness are often subjected to. In the course of a lifetime, not all people will experience a mental illness, but everyone will struggle or have a challenge with their mental health or mental well-being, just like we all have challenges with our physical well-being from time to time. Good mental health isn’t about feeling happy and confident 100% of time and ignoring any problems. It’s about living and coping well despite problems. The first step towards this is to acknowledge that ‘it’s okay not to be okay”.
Mental health challenges are the result of a complex interplay between biological, psychological, social and environmental factors and yet, very few South Africans seek treatment for their mental health complexities. There is increasing evidence that both the content and context of work can play a role in the development of mental health problems in the workplace.
Key factors include:
- workload (both excessive and insufficient work)
- lack of participation and control in the workplace
- perceived monotonous or unpleasant tasks
- role ambiguity or conflict
- lack of recognition at work
- inequity
- lack of interpersonal relationships
- poor working conditions
- inadequate leadership and ineffective communication
- challenges of balancing conflicting home and work demands
The workplace plays an important role in developing our character. Professional resilience is an individual’s capacity to thrive in situations of high demand and on-going pressure. But it can also be place where we encounter the dark side of resilience. Unbalanced resilience can be a negative, stifling force – similar to how over-exerting a strength can lead to a lack of development in areas of need, resulting in long-term negative consequences. Whilst the workplace can contribute positively to a person’s mental health, it may also exacerbate an existing condition, or may contribute to the development of a mental health problem. Employers should put programmes in place to promote the mental health of workers, and to ensure that mental health problems are recognised early and treated effectively.
At The Learning Organisation, we understand that the mental health of your employees impacts your business. This is one of the main causes of poor performance and negative changes to your organisation’s culture.
We have partnered with INNER WHEALTH to bring you a series on mental health as a part of our Insight Fridays series of complimentary webinars. This flows into our Personal Power and Influence Accredited Skills Programme (Building Resilience through Emotional Intelligence), that will enable your staff to break the chains of poor mental health and get back to high performance in the workplace.
Join Refiloe Nyoni as she takes you on this journey with topics like Rewarding Resilience, and Essential Services for Self.
Rewarding Resilience
”Please stop for a moment and thank yourself for how far you’ve come. You’ve worked really hard to make small changes in your life and all your efforts count” ~Anonymous
We have been through trying times and we deserve a round of applause for all we have achieved and overcome professionally, whilst simultaneously balancing the demands of our personal lives. According to neuroscience, rewarding ourselves acts as a positive reinforcement. When we give ourselves a treat, our brains elicit positive emotions by releasing a chemical called dopamine which makes us feel uplifted and happy. In this session, we learn how to acknowledge our accomplishments and thank ourselves for how far we have risen above adversity.
Essential Services for Self
“And if I asked you to name all the things that you love, how long will it take for you to name yourself?” ~Anonymous
We’ve woken up to a somewhat difficult world and it’s easy to forget that we are at the centre of our own. Self-care is an essential service, a crucial and non-negotiable investment that we must for make for ourselves. Naming our thoughts and emotions makes us powerful and resilient and relates to mindful awareness. Our productivity depends on our ability to nourish ourselves and attend to our needs.
In this session we will learn how to:
- Ensure that your self-care is a priority
- Develop a mindful journaling practice
- The navigate the stages of grief to reach acceptance
- Converse and connect. Self-awareness is an investment in self and our relationships
- Acknowledge the self-critic and make the change
TLO is a level 2 B-BBEE QSE empowering supplier, 51 % black women-owned and 100% women-owned
125% procurement recognition.