World Mental Health Day
Tuesday 10 October 2017, World Mental Health Day. The theme this year is mental health in the workplace. Many of us spend much of our waking time at work. Whether we’re office-based or more mobile, we have a workplace. In these times of hot-desking and remote working, the workplace is more fluid than it used to be. Harder to define.
As a photographer, my own workplace varies from one day to the next. Not unlike my many roles in the civil service, when I worked from offices, from home, in conference centres, on trains, in different countries….
The UK civil service has some support services available to help employees manage their mental health. The civil service also has a Health and Wellbeing Champion who oversees this work. At a local level, the service varies. In my own experience, the level of support is governed by the amount of understanding which individuals have of mental health and associated illnesses. This feeling was backed up in a recent survey carried out by the national charity, Mind. Asking over 12,000 employers, the researchers found a higher prevalence of mental ill health in the public sector, and also a lack of support available to those experiencing a mental health issue.
I became very ill in my final job in the civil service. Under huge pressure and without the support I needed, I had a breakdown. I was subsequently diagnosed formally with bipolar ii disorder. It was an awful time. On the outside, I looked okay. Inside, I had fallen into a very deep, very dark place with seemingly no way out. Suicidal thoughts were a daily occurrence.
I remember the compassion in the eyes of the employment judge when I was in court giving evidence on whether or not I had a disability. Really, it shouldn’t matter whether or not I was considered by law to be disabled. Mental ill health is something which any workplace should treat with care and concern. Being considered disabled, or not, did make a difference to how I should have been supported at work though. The judge had no doubt that based on the guidance of several medical professionals, and in her own judgement, yes, I had a disability. She was truly sorry that the case had even had to be heard in court, and appeared genuinely moved by my testimony as I described both the illness and the consequences of the breakdown.
When I was ill, something broke which will never recover. I changed. I have a new ‘best version’ of myself. It’s different to the old ‘best version’. Some of the skills I had have been bent so badly out of shape that they will never be as good as they used to be. But that’s okay. I’ve developed ways of coping. I also rediscovered skills which I hadn’t recognised or nurtured for many years.
On the outside, I look as I did before. This is one of the difficult areas with mental health. You can be seriously ill but no-one can see. There are no bandages, no crutches, no lumps or rashes. Taking depression as an example, it is an insidious illness which eats from the inside. Never quite revealing itself to the outside, but always there with the sufferer. It’s more than being down, or feeling sad. More than reacting to a life event (although might be lurking, ready to be triggered into the full illness by a life event). It is indiscriminate and can affect anybody. There are many documented cases of people in the public eye who have been, or are, afflicted by the illness.
Good mental health can be encouraged with self care, such as taking regular exercise, sleeping well, eating healthily, drinking plenty of water, not isolating oneself. These factors are important with or without an illness. Sometimes mental ill health makes it difficult to take these measures though, and that’s where other support and intervention is essential.
Returning to the beginning of this post, I remarked that many of us spend most of our time in a workplace of some form. That’s where the support needs to begin. The first step towards workplace support is to raise awareness that mental ill health issues are not made up illnesses. The help needed by people with mental illness will vary. It isn’t a case of one solution meeting everybody’s needs. There are many, many different mental health illnesses which may affect staff. It is not a lifestyle choice, or a fad. It is unpredictable and can strike at any time. The Sun might be shining at the height of summer, but depression and other mental health illnesses really don’t care.
Since leaving the civil service and starting my new path, I have spent time working with Swindon Mind. Both as a service user, and now as a Trustee. My professional experience working in the civil service is useful as a Trustee, and my personal experience gives me an insight into the needs of other service users. I took the Mental Health First Aid course last year and recommend it to anybody, wherever they work. Helping people experiencing mental health related illness, is as important as being able to assist with physical first aid.
There is a lot of work still to do. Having the workplace as the focus for this year’s World Mental Health Day is one step in the process. There remains a stigma around admitting that you suffer mental health issues, and it is incumbent on all of us to work together to build better understanding of the different illnesses. We need to break down the fear that people have of speaking out, whether we speak out as sufferers, or on behalf of those who suffer.
Finally, if you, or somebody you know, suffer with mental health illness, it is essential to seek help and support. Please, never remain silent. There are many individuals and organisations who can offer assistance, and you can find details of a few of them here.
