Today on Radio 4 Woman’s Hour there was a phone in about peoples’ experience with mental health problems such as depression. Listening to the moving accounts that people were brave enough to give, I was struck by two things. Firstly the compassion of the presenter who was very validating to callers in her acknowledgement of the courage that it can take to talk about this subject and her admission of her own inability to know how to help her friends suffering from depression. Secondly the fear that people feel about the stigma of mental illness at work, including the attitude of colleagues, managers and the HR department.

One caller had praise for a particularly kind and sensitive manager in contrast to the cool and unhelpful attitude of the HR manager.

I am not aware that many HR Teams have particular training in managing mental health issues so that they can feel confident to relate to staff with knowledge and sensitivity, and yet they are called upon to manage people with these issues on a regular basis.

When we recently ran a specialist workshop for an HR Team at a very progressive company I became aware that people did not know the difference between stress, trauma, depression and psychotic conditions for example and yet they were obviously dealing with people suffering from these conditions. Giving basic information on symptoms, treatment approaches and helpful communication was received with relief.

The aim of the workshop was not to turn HR professionals into counsellors or mental health workers but to give a basic degree of confidence and knowledge so that they could understand how to relate in a helpful manner and help staff remain functioning at work with appropriate support, the feedback that we received was to that effect.

If you feel that your HR or Managers would benefit from this knowledge then our Master class on ‘Understanding Mental Health at Work’ would address this in a very practical way. Please do call us for more information, it could make a big difference to people’s lives.