Richard Daniel Curtis pens his reflections on this year’s theme ‘Workplace Wellbeing’
When I think about workplace wellbeing, I always come back to the same core principles. These simple things are the things that have the most powerful impact in creating and maintaining a mental health friendly culture. They are the things you can control in your day-to-day life and do not rely on organisations, others or systems. This is why they are the most powerful, as you are in charge of them, they are the things you can do and say every day.
- Change the words you use. Be clear that we all experience poor mental health (we all experience good mental health). Mental health conditions relate to the diagnosable conditions people can experience (this does not mean they are experiencing a difficulty necessarily). It is only when someone is struggling that we talk about mental health difficulties.
- Change the things you do. Overwhelm is overwhelm, it may come out as stress, as frustration or many other emotions, but it is overwhelm. When you are helping someone who is overwhelmed, you deal with their emotions and then the problem, just as you would with a small child.
- Be a leader. Model your emotional journey (without blaming), we are all on an emotional rollercoaster, make it alright to have had a bad day/hour/minute/week.
There are a host of different techniques and complex theories, systems, software, signs, and much more that you can invest in. But without the empathetic approach of the individuals thinking about their words, actions and modelling, change in the workplace culture will fail.
Wherever you are in a workplace, you can change the culture around you. Letting it radiate out from you through the interactions you have with others, supports their wellbeing. In turn, they may change just one thing, like a phrase they use or the way they interact with someone else. This trickle-down effect may only affect a small part of your workplace, but at least you are having an impact.
By
Richard Daniel Curtis
Chair of the Association of Mental Health in Education October 2024.