Reducing Work-Related Stress

Workplace stress has adverse effects on employees' mental health, with an increased risk of anxiety, burnout, depression, and substance use disorders. Stressed workers are more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviours, such as excessive use of cigarette smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, and poor dietary patterns.

Employers can help their employees reduce work-related stress by providing their managers with the necessary mental health training. They can empower their teams to understand their mental health better and have difficult conversations using honest and open communication.

We require proactive and reactive approaches - bookending mental health strategies with our employee engagement activities, to prevent these issues arising, and providing evidence-based intervention to treat with long-term solutions. Here you can see employee outcome results for GPs with mental health problems or police officers with PTSD.
A mental health strategy has to overlook references to fruit and mindfulness (not to be confused with MBCT) if it is evidence-based.
An evidence-based strategy along with prevention and treatment requires a detection activity. If treatment is not clinically indicated then an exit pathway for general support is required (e.g. social support, HR interventions, Occupational Health for physical illness interventions). Punctuated throughout the wellbeing strategy are the activities that promote mental health needs – helping to optimise performance, reduce stigma, develop awareness, address professional themes, and signal buy-in from the top.