Mental Illness

Mental Illness in the Workplace

By June 30, 2015No Comments

What Employers Can do to Encourage Getting Treatment for Mental Illness

mental illnessA recent article in The Wall Street Journal reported that employers can expect to have 20 percent of their office staff dealing with some form of mental illness at any given point in time. While employers or co-workers may be comfortable encouraging someone to seek treatment for other kinds of illness, when the problem is mental illness, people can be hesitant to speak up. This reticence could be because of mistaken beliefs about mental illness.

The media has been peppered in recent years with stories of violence occurring in a situation where an individual has a mental illness condition. This, unfortunately feeds the stigma that many mental health patients are prone to violence. The fact is that the cases which wind up on the news are a miniscule representation of patients and often are for persons who never got treatment for their illness.

Even if the misperception does not have to do with myths about mental illness, there may be persistent worries that persons with mental illness will perform sporadically at work or become undependable in other ways. It is true that major depression can lead to missed workdays, but this is the case most often when someone is not being treated.

Employees may be hesitant to speak up about their mental illness or to look for help because they worry about losing a job or being stigmatized by co-workers. Offices can defuse these concerns by going over what insurance plans will cover and encouraging employees to make use of coverage. Talking openly about mental illness as a regular health issue can put to rest concerns about getting help.

As an employer, if you feel that an employee may be struggling with a mental health issue, you can quietly pull the person aside and encourage them to get a mental health screening. Reassurance about confidence in the person and the hope of treatment are needed. If you need a place to refer employees, call us at Family Guidance Center. We can help your employee with the treatment they need.