Your how-to: Creating an initial action plan for integrating mental health awareness
Creating an initial action plan for integrating mental health awareness within your work environment outlines the initial steps to help a business embed a culture of mental health awareness in the workplace. It involves the systematic identification of potential mental health issues, the supportive measures that can be instituted, and the improvement actions required to strengthen the workplace's mental health support capability.
Our approach will involve ensuring compliance with relevant Australian workplace health and safety legislation which mandates that workplaces must provide reasonable support to an employee with a mental health condition. Secondly, the plan will enable businesses to move beyond compliance by integrating practices that foster mental wellbeing as a core aspect of workplace culture.
Step by step instructions
Understand the state of mental health in your workplace: It is essential to identify the current mental health situation in your workplace. This involves conducting confidential surveys or feedback sessions with your employees to understand their mental health challenges, if any. This information will provide a baseline upon which to improve.
Develop a mental health policy: Formulate a mental health policy for your workplace that outlines your organisation's commitment to promoting mental health awareness and support. This policy should include information on available resources, employee rights, and procedures for addressing mental health concerns.
Set up a support system: Create a robust support system which employees can easily access. This could include provision of counselling services, Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), or mindfulness activities. Offering flexible working hours or remote working options could also be part of this support system, providing respite to those dealing with mental health issues.
Monitor and evaluate the progress: Regularly review the effectiveness of your action plan. Adjustments may be necessary based on the feedback from employees or if mental health needs within the workplace change over time. Regular monitoring ensures the ongoing effectiveness of your mental health action plan.
Ensure compliance with Australian workplace health and safety legislation: Familiarise yourself with Australian legislation pertaining to mental health in workplaces. According to Australian health and safety laws, employers are obliged to provide adequate support to employees with mental health conditions. This includes reasonable adjustments to work arrangements or the work environment to accommodate these employees. Ensure your workplace is compliant with these regulations.
Create mental health awareness programs: Develop programs and activities to create awareness about mental health. These could include workshops, seminars, or online modules that educate employees about the importance of mental health. Bringing in external experts for these sessions can be particularly beneficial.
Train managers and supervisors: Ensure that your leadership team is well-equipped to handle mental health issues among their teams. This involves providing them with training on mental health issues, encouraging them to communicate openly about mental health and equipping them to handle any disclosures sensitively and confidentially.
Reflect and Breathe: This step can be challenging, so it's important to take a moment to breathe and reflect. Pause to consider the progress made, the obstacles encountered, and the lessons learned. This reflection will not only help in gaining clarity but also in maintaining a balanced perspective, allowing for thoughtful and deliberate decision-making moving forward.
Use this template to implement
To ensure you can execute seamlessly, download the implementation template.
Pitfalls to avoid
While it's admirable to aim for "increased mental health awareness," it's essential to have specific objectives to measure progress and success. For example, increasing the percentage of employees who complete mental health training or decreasing the number of workdays lost to mental health issues could be concrete, measurable goals.
Your leadership team and employees need to be appropriately trained to identify and support colleagues with mental health issues. Lack of training may lead to miscommunication, misunderstandings or mishandling of situations, which could potentially exacerbate the issues at hand.
While the goal is to create an open-minded environment, it's crucial to maintain employee privacy and confidentiality. It's important to reassure your team that their privacy is respected and that information about their mental health status, if disclosed, is not shared without their explicit consent.
Don't assume every team member will be receptive to the initiative. Stigma and misunderstanding about mental health still exist. Be prepared to handle resistance and indifference sensitively and educate employees to help overcome these obstacles.
The field of mental health evolves rapidly. If your policies and procedures aren't regularly updated to reflect latest best-practices or changes in Australian law, such as the Fair Work Act 2009 (which stipulates fair treatment for employees dealing with illness or injury, including mental health disorders), your action plan could become ineffective or even noncompliant.
Most importantly, ensure that once awareness is raised, adequate support systems are in place. This might involve access to counselling, lenient leave policies or flexible working hours. If there is no tangible support method available, employees suffering from mental health issues may either hesitate to disclose their struggles or feel that the plan is all talk with no action.