Despite the growing concerns around absenteeism and work-related stress, mental health often remains a taboo and avoided topic at work. Left unacknowledged, poor mental health can result in more than just poor performance, but in some cases has a devastating impact on both employees and employers. Organisations are being called to wake up from the myth that people leave their personal challenges at the door step of their professional role; and that high levels of stress does not serve for sustainable success.

Leaders, HR and senior staff have a responsibility to proactively help support employee mental health, or risk exacerbating stress trying to manage unproductive and ineffective behaviours. This means more than a flyer pinned to a HR board or a generic email signposting the Samaritans. Equally, it is unrealistic to expect business leaders and managers to go on long and expensive mental health training, especially in an economic crisis and whilst many employees continue to work from home.

In my experience as a Psychotherapist and Coach, integral to better equipping employees to take responsibility of managing their own mental health is providing an accessible psycho-education. I have supported a variety of corporate organisations such as Elsevier, SimplyHealth and appeared on BBC’s The One Show, sharing my expertise and experience on topics such as stress management, work-life balance and preventing burnout.