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World Mental Health Day
Posted 09/10/24
10th October :听 World Mental Health Day aims to bring people together to talk about mental health and show everyone that mental health matters.
Led by the World Federation for Mental Health, the day is intended to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world, and promote efforts that organisations and individuals are making to support better mental health.
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What is World Mental Health Day?
World Mental Health Day is celebrated annually, on 10th October. In 2024, the theme - set by the World Federation of Mental Health - is about Prioritising Workplace Mental Health.
This theme underscores the critical importance of mental health in professional settings all over the world and aims to engage a global audience 鈥� including employees, employers, organisations and stakeholders 鈥� in promoting mental wellbeing at work.
Important Things to Remember :
- Mental Health and Work are Closely Linked: A supportive work environment fosters mental health, providing purpose and stability.
- Workers Face Risks to Mental Health: The various risks to mental health that workers may face include discrimination, poor working conditions or limited autonomy. Low paid or insecure jobs often leave workers exposed to psychological risks.
- Impact on Individuals: Lack of support for people with mental health conditions can negatively impact their self-confidence, capacity to work, absences and enjoyment at work.
- Wider Impact on Work and Society: Depression and anxiety alone result in the loss of approximately 12 billion workdays each year.
- Stigma Creates Barriers to Employment: Stigma and discrimination often prevent people with mental health conditions from seeking help or finding and keeping jobs.
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Supporting Mental Health at Work
Employers can Support Workers to Participate and Thrive: Employers should apply reasonable accommodations to support workers with mental health conditions in the workplace, e.g. organising regular supportive meetings, scheduling frequent breaks and gradually reintroducing workers to tasks. Be mindful that action to address mental health at work should be done with the meaningful involvement of workers and their representatives, and persons with lived experience of mental health conditions.
Managers can be Trained to Support Mental Health: Employers should provide managers with training to recognise and address pressures in the workplace. Trained managers have the ability to effectively support their teams to foster a more supportive work environment.
Government Action and Collaboration are Essential: Governments, employers and representative organisations should work together to create policies that prevent mental health risks, promote wellbeing and build healthy workplace environments where mental health is prioritised.
Take Better Care of Your Own Mental Health: Although governments and employers have a responsibility to protect mental health at work, you can take steps to support your own wellbeing. Stay mindful of changes in your mental health and, if needed, reach out for support from friends, family or workplace colleagues.
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Mental Health and Consumer Vulnerability
Trading Standards, alongside other professions, works to safeguard vulnerable people from scams and fraud which may affect their financial, physical and mental health.
However, it is also important to understand the impact mental health concerns can have in creating a consumer that is particularly vulnerable. For instance, people with mental health conditions are likely to be especially vulnerable to aggressive marketing practices. Thus, those pressured in this way may agree to contracts that are unsuitable or unwanted.
The Mental Health Premium
According to the Citizens Advice study on , where they looked into the extra charges people with mental health problems pay for essential services, they found that 72% of people with mental health problems say they find it more difficult than usual to manage or complete paperwork during periods of poor mental health, which can lead to them missing deadlines, filling in forms incorrectly or having applications for support closed due to inaction.
It also suggested that people with mental health issues are not being treated fairly in essential markets and that people should not be penalised for any health problems they may possess. Regulators of the field should agree minimum standards of support for people with mental health concerns and should ensure that their services don鈥檛 worsen a consumer鈥檚 health.
Anxiety Ups and Downs
People can go through periods of good and poor mental health, for varying lengths of time. When they are experiencing good mental health, they may be able to cope with certain tasks and activities that become extremely difficult for the same individual when they are experiencing poor mental health. This fluctuation in behaviour can mean that, during bouts of poor mental health, individuals may go through periods where they have low levels of confidence in engaging with others.
The nature of the difficulty can vary by mental health condition - people with anxiety may avoid interactions or communication with others as a coping mechanism, whereas people who suffer from paranoia or delusion may struggle to communicate by phone because, for example, they may think their phone line has been bugged.
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How Businesses can Support Vulnerable Consumers
There are a number of simple but effective ways that businesses can change the way they operate to support consumers with mental health concerns:
1. Inclusive Design
Consumer vulnerability is multidimensional and the challenges that individuals face can be varied and complex. An inclusive design is mindful of the needs of a broad range of consumers and designs products or services that are usable by as many people as possible.
2. Modes of Communication
People with mental health problems often prefer to communicate electronically, as this can create less anxiety than verbal (e.g. telephone) or face-to-face interactions. Including this as an alternative option, can help people with low levels of confidence from feeling intimidated.
3. Changing Business Practices
Some common practices can actually hinder consumers from engaging with businesses effectively - which can have a particularly negative impact on vulnerable consumers who may require additional support. The introduction of positive practices - such as minimum standards of customer care - could be beneficial in supporting vulnerable consumers, by establishing a 鈥榖aseline鈥� for the types of engagement and outcomes that consumers can expect to receive.
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