Are We Going Cuckoo?

I’m worried about the direction workplace wellbeing has taken. Long-term sickness absence due to poor mental health is increasing 1. It’s not a problem of investment or commitment – spending on wellbeing increased substantially since 2020 2 and most organisations are set to keep the same level or increase funding for wellbeing in 2025 3 - it’s a problem of where that investment is being directed. Setting up networks of Mental Heath Champions / First Aiders has become the default approach in workplaces, with ubiquitous Mental Health First Aid training 4.

I believe that there is great value in having Champions, and MHFA is useful in preparing them for that role, but not if, cuckoo-like, they push all the other vital elements of a holistic wellbeing strategy out of the nest.

DANGER OF THIS APPROACH

So, what’s the problem with the MHFA/Champions plan?

It's in the name! FIRST AID is something you give someone once they’ve already had an accident (or reached crisis point). In a sense, it’s already too late, if we accept that the crisis might have been avoided.
Champions are brilliant BUT, the idea that they can promote wellbeing initiatives as well as be on hand in case someone reaches out to them in an emergency is mostly unrealistic given the increasing work pressures most of them face.
Where does responsibility lie? With this approach, responsibility is pushed to the individual to seek help, but the nature of mental illness, together with greater fear about job security, means that many will never do so – they’ll slog on until they crash, and everything becomes so much more difficult to fix.

WHAT IS NEEDED?

Workplaces need to re-direct funds into two areas that should come before the First Aid stage:

Preventative Wellbeing Initiatives – a programme of workplace interventions that promote a wellbeing culture for everyone, help build resilience and safeguard mental health. I suggest basing this on Martin Seligman’s PERMA approach (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Positive Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment) 5.
Equipping Managers to Support Mental Wellbeing. Managers are increasingly being withdrawn from wellbeing responsibilities 6 and yet they are the ones on the ground, with their staff, able to build trusting relationships and a wellbeing culture for their team. And this doesn’t mean sticking them on a MHFA course as is so often the case. The main workplace health and wellbeing challenge is lack of line manager skills and confidence 7 and while MHFA is great for increasing knowledge of mental health conditions, it does little to build their confidence in opening up conversations with colleagues.

And both of these investments require complete buy-in from the very top of the organisation, a prerequisite that has, unfortunately, been waning over the last 4 years 8.

This shortsightedness is hardly out of place in our current economic and political climate, and the more the pressure builds, the more shortsighted leaders seem to become. But it's time to invest in the future of our invaluable organisations and the people who make them work.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW:

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