I was just about to share this Forbes article with clients and thought to share it with you as well.

If you haven’t had a chance to see this yet, one of the most valuable of the 10 eye-opening statistics on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health is Item 4: Only 50% of employees are comfortable discussing mental health issues. This is based on a recent poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in May 2020.

As the APA suggest, “there is no doubt that the negative mental health effects of COVID‐19 will be serious and long‐lasting”. Workplaces need to ensure they reduce these risks for their employees.

Item 4 suggests it’s worth reviewing how well you’re doing on psychological safety. That will help. But if you’re finding that despite your efforts, it’s not as good as you’d hoped, it might be because it’s just not that simple. Self-stigma is part of the problem too.

Research of over 21,000 police and emergency services personnel by Beyond Blue here in Australia found that of those with mental health conditions:

• 33% felt shame about their mental health condition;
• 32% believed that they would be a burden on the team; and
• 61% avoided talking about their mental health condition.

It’s a bit like the chicken and the egg. Still, you’ve got to start somewhere. Wouldn’t you like to hear “I can’t say that. It’d be a career-limiting move” less often?

Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash