LOOKING AFTER YOUR MENTAL HEALTH AT WORK

We can all take steps to improve our own mental health and build our resilience our ability to cope with adversity.

Self-care is a skill that needs to be practised. It isn’t easy especially if we feel anxious, depressed or low in self-esteem.

Try looking through some evidence-based ways to improve your mental health below. There’s bound to be one or two you do well.

These can be your ASSETS; your go-to methods for working on your wellbeing. Look for one or two you find hard. These can be your CHALLENGES. It may be that these areas are the ones you neglect under stress for example drinking too much, isolating yourself or comfort eating, are all examples of ways we try and cope that are the opposite of what the evidence tells us works for our mental health.

Finally, look for one or two areas that you feel you could work on or try. These can be GOALS. Your goals and challenges can be the same but it’s sometimes kinder to yourself to have some goals that you can meet more easily.

TALK ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS

Talking about your feelings can help you maintain your mental health and deal with times when you feel troubled. Talking about your feelings isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s part of taking charge of your wellbeing and doing what you can to stay healthy.

It can be hard to talk about feelings at work. If you have colleagues you can talk to, or a manager who asks how you are at supervision sessions, it can really help.

Identify someone you feel comfortable with and who will be supportive. You may want to think about what you want to disclose, who to and when a good time and place to do this could be.

If you are open about how you feel at work, especially if you are a leader, it might encourage others to do the same.

If you don’t feel able to talk about feelings at work, make sure there’s someone you can discuss work pressures with partners, friends and family can all be great.