Michael Carty
What is your level of awareness on issues around mental health in the workplace?
Is your HR department doing all that it can when it comes to dealing with mental health in the workplace and supporting employees who might be affected by issues relating to mental health?
If your answer to either of the above questions is ‘no,’ then please click through some of the links presented in this post to help you find out more about mental health in the workplace, and what HR can do.
If your answer to either question is ‘yes,’ please keep reading, and consider ways that you might be able to help share your own knowledge of dealing with issues around mental health in the workplace with other organisations.
And for everyone in HR, next month sees a free event from the new HR for Mental Health movement, designed to raise awareness around mental health in the workplace, and what HR can do:
- HR for Mental Health: An evening with the charity Mind
This free event takes place in London on the evening of 5 February 2013, and is organised in association with the charity Mind.
How HR blogs put mental health issues on the HR agenda in 2013
Issues around mental health in the workplace have emerged as a key topic in the world of HR blogs in 2013, following two remarkable guest blog posts from an anonymous author on Alison Chisnell’s HR Juggler blog.
These two posts, written by an anonymous HR professional are powerful, compelling pieces of writing.
I would urge anybody reading this please to find a moment or two to read them in full:
- Courage
The first post describes the anonymous author’s struggles with mental health issues, and their concerns that fully disclosing these issues in the workplace could have a serious impact on their career. - An Invitation
In this post, the author comments on the huge groundswell of support and offers of help generated by Courage, and on what happens next.
HR for Mental Health: The #HR4MH movement
As detailed in An Invitation, Alison and the anonymous HR professional have acted to build on the momentum that has been generated around mental health in the workplace.
You can read more about these next steps in Alison’s own post entitled Now Is The Time.
They have launched the HR for Mental Health movement (with its own Twitter account: @HRforMH; and hashtag #HR4MH).
Click on the following links for more about HR for Mental Health:
- HR for Mental Health: An evening with the charity Mind
Sign up for this free event in London on 5 February 2013, organised in association with the charity Mind. The eventbrite page for this event provides further details: “An evening with the charity Mind. Find out about the work they are doing to end stigma and the tools they use to help organisations. You’ll get a chance to pick their brains about approaches that work and also feed back to them about what help you need, both right now and for the future.” - Taking Care of Business: Mental health at work
Free resources from Mind. - Time to Change
A campaign to end mental health discrimination. - The #25percentclub
Alison plans to run a series of guest blog posts on her HR Juggler blog looking at issues around mental health in the workplace.
UPDATE 1 (Monday 21 January 2013): #HR4MH – The Storify story
I’ve used Storify to compile all the relevant links and tweets so far on this topic. The resulting Storify “story” appears directly below.
UPDATE 12 (Friday 25 January 2013): The HR for Mental Health movement goes international!
It’s been tremendous to see the extent of awareness-raising activity around the HR for Mental Health.
There has been a wave of activity around the #HR4MH hashtag on Twitter, and I’m delighted to report that the 5 February 2013 event in association with Mind is now fully booked!
There have also been a number of remarkable blog posts highlighting issues around mental health in the workplace. Here are three must-reads:
- The 25% Club: Born This Way
An anonymous HR blogger describes their experience of Bipolar II. - The 25% Club: An Aftermath
Alison Chisnell shares a very powerful and very personal story. - Mental Health at Work – Do You Know What To Do?
By Niki Rosenbaum.
I’m also delighted to report that the HR for Mental Health movement is going international! Singapore-based Australian HR blogger Sarah Miller has written a brilliant and very personal post on her Whipper Snapper HR blog, to help raise awareness of mental health issues:
Do please read Sarah’s post in full!
Mental health in the workplace: Resources from Personnel Today
- Articles on mental health
Run this search to access Personnel Today’s selection of articles on mental health in the workplace.
