Canadian HR Reporter

52 www.hrreporter.com F E A T U R E S I'M all for mental health services. I am a Canadian registered psychologist and clinical supervisor; I've worked in mental health for years, including clinically depressed clients, people with anxiety and eating disor- ders, domestic violence situations, drug or alcohol addiction, suicide attempts and unfortunate successes, as well as a few murders. I have stayed up nights worrying, coordinating with social services and psychiatric units, and more than once, have been met first thing in the morning by police waiting in reception, their uniforms signalling I'd lost someone in the night. I say this not to shock, but to show that I'm neither naïve nor unrealistic. I know the ravages of mental health issues and will never deny the importance of mental health services. It's that I just don't think offering mental health services in the workplace is the "whole" or even "best" answer. Here's why. • First, by the time we get to these issues, much has occurred. These problems don't emerge overnight — they build over time. Much can be done cheaply and effectively to prevent them from happening. Not doing so is equivalent to offering very specialized and expensive treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — a result of decades of smoking. If you're already at this point, you've missed many interven- tion points and the chance of positive outcomes is low. Why wait for mental health services to be needed when we can do more to prevent them from happening? better living — meaning a good night's sleep, a tough run, more humane workplaces, a sense of purpose, moments of joy and play, as well as real friends — would statistically and significantly improve our lives. • Much has been made of this pandemic and the impending flood of mental health issues. Many people were scared, anxious, angry, impatient, stressed and bored. That's not a mental health issue, that's coping with a global pandemic. As restrictions loosened over the weeks across nations, our emotional responses followed. As times become more normal, so will we. Let's not create a self-fulfilling prophecy by anticipating our disturbance. • Instead, what will become pressing are economic and employment issues. Rebranding these as mental health concerns outsources their responsi- bility to individuals. These issues make mental health worse, but being unemployed is not a mental health diagnosis and cannot be solved by INTEGRATION LACKING IN CANADA • Despite the real urgency and need for mental health services, a majority of people will not deal with such issues. They will, however, break up with partners, deal with workplace stress, shout at their kids, and wonder whether a midlife crisis has arrived. Others will be bored, unsatisfied or go through the motions of life and wonder "Is this it?" These feelings will come and go, punctuated by birthday parties, boring afternoons, under- cooked dinners and good times at the beach. Most people do not classify as mentally ill or have a mental disorder. • Research has shown that many issues that end up diagnosed as mental health issues are explained by unregu- lated living. We sleep poorly, too late or not enough. We waste time on Instagram, skip the gym, stop learning, eat junk, still smoke, and cram our calendars with pointless activity. We have lost the art of living — and that was before COVID-19. We strive for expensive diagnoses and medicalize our conditions, when Many employee wellbeing programs are missing the mark because people who have mental health issues already know all about it, and those who don't aren't interested in participating, says registered psychologist Louise Lambert. But the science of positive psychology can make a real difference WHY WELLBEING PROGRAMS OFTEN FAIL Employees are tired of endless webinars on mental health issues they do not have or already know about. Instead, they want to feel good, interested, optimistic, energized, cared for, and that life is meaningful. 79% Percentage of employers that say employee wellbeing is important 90% Percentage of employers with at least one employee wellbeing initiative 54% Percentage of employers with an employee wellbeing strategy in place 16% Percentage of employers that fully integrate wellbeing into their business and talent strategy Source: Aon M E N TA L H E A LT H

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