Beyond the Basics.

If change is the only constant, why is our company not evolving for employees' mental health? Kritika asked this question out of frustration at one of my corporate coaching sessions. Well, I couldn’t answer that to her as an outsource consultant, but it provoked me to do some research regarding what innovative companies can do in counselling therapies, or training that helps the employees to work stress-free. We are hiring a new generation & they are working along with the old generation as well hence in the fast-paced working era innovation in the mental health solutions process is highly mandatory for their mental well-being.

Here are some basic innovations in counseling & training I would like to explain below that uplift the mental health of employees & lead them to personal growth.

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1. Therapy sessions for the employee & their family. –??Our personalities start taking shape from our childhood days & then grow, change or evolve throughout the journey of our lives & family plays a very crucial role in shaping our personality. If an employee is not able to perform well in the workplace due to any kind of mental stress or illness then the reason might not be only professional but could be personal as well, hence it is important to provide counselling sessions to not only the employee but the family as well.

Sometimes family members don’t understand the work pressure the person is dealing with & they set high expectations in their personal life which leads to conflicts in relationships, or it can be vice versa when there is an adverse personal situation taking place in the family & that personal frustration the employee is pouring into the workplace & it is leading to conflicts in professional relationships.

Monthly counseling sessions will help to fill the gap between the professional & personal life of the employee & the offloading in therapy sessions could make things better.

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2. Role play Synergy Training – When we collaborate & generate ideas it is called synergy, Although, we conduct group training still most of the training is for individual growth only, but we need to create synergy training for employees where employees can understand each other’s problem & role, feel empathy help each other to reduce stress & uplift the mindfulness.

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Example?- In role-play training we exchange the designation of each employee, like the manager will play the role of subordinate & vice versa, will provide a critical situation to handle by each side, in the process both parties will understand how difficult the role they play daily in the company. When they see themselves in someone else’s shoes they create synergy & an empathetic positive environment for each other which will reduce the level of conflicts & stress.

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3. Ethics & Value-based Counselling – ?Lack of ethics & values is one of the reasons why people don’t value the other person in the workplace as well, human psychology is not only about taking therapies, doing the assignments and exercises given by the therapist & heal but it could also be taken into another level where we can brush up the base of the personality to establish humility in one’s personality which will automatically lead into compassion within employees.

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One of my mentees was struggling to maintain relationships with his colleagues & after a few assessments I learned he did not have any basic ethics & values to showcase because of his complex family structure in his childhood days, he was not able to behave & support his colleagues properly, he was not helpful, empathetic & adjusting in nature. We need to heal the childhood complexity to build the ethics & values which will escalate all the required humility in an individual.

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4. ?Perks-based psychological development & monitoring – When life becomes monotonous & hectic for employees, they usually forget to feel the small happiness around them also it doesn’t come to them frequently, if any employee is not able to cope with the help of counselling, therapy or training as everyone reacts or accept the solutions differently at different time, we can use perk-based therapy by providing them with few things to create positivity amongst them.

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· Giving gifts on special occasions to the employees and immediate family members.

· Providing necessary equipment on the desk for work as per individual choice & and needs.

· Weekly on-desk fun activity, self-pampering sessions, and Team outings.

· Motivating & appreciating personal messages by managers to the subordinates as per their work performance.

Applying all the above activities is not enough, monitoring & growth evaluations are also important to alter or customized solutions if anything could be done better, proper assessments & feedback from employees can reflect the expectations & results.

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5. Offloading through the human library - In most, psychological counselling offloading is important where a person can share all his/her feelings, overcamecry, laugh, show fear, share insecurities, share all the personal thoughts & and traumas coming into mind after that only one can start the therapy or provide any solutions. In a company the management can create an event like “Human Library” where a few employees can share their stories of how they overcome the tough situation & have learned lessons, employees can also ask to questions & discuss this open conversation & share their problems to get an inside solution. ?

Again, monitoring is required after a few events like this to check the progress if it is helping or not.

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“When we stop generalizing human personalities & their pains, we help them better”.

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