Build an Environment that Supports Mental Health - Part Three

Could living and leading authentically be the solution to the mental health crisis pandemic is just one of the many questions Tony J. Selimi makes us ponder in his latest book, The Unfakeable Code?.

Hi everyone, and welcome to article three on building an environment that supports mental health. I trust the previous two articles have not only proved to be informative but have also sparked thoughts, especially for the business's leaders amongst you, about where the company's efforts to support employees' mental health is most likely heading.

Also, why is it of enormous importance for today's modern evolving businesses to invest in an award-winning business coach such as Tony J. Selimi to support their leadership, management teams, and ultimately their staff? Because if you are honest with yourself, if you fail to take action, is mental health in the workplace still going to be there disaffecting your business in 1, 3, 5, 10 years? Of course, it is, no matter how much some of you may wish the opposite to be true. Mental health will always be there. Consistently proving to be a drain on the businesses' resources and cash flows is just one of many reasons it's crucial to take concrete action now.

Because although primarily it's about saving lives and minds, it also goes a long way to you keeping the livelihood you treasure and may have spent years, decades building and creating.

So now to the point of this article and why management senior leadership teams benefit from being coached, mentored, and trained by experts such as the world's renowned human behaviour and emotional intelligence and the psychology of both personal and business success expert Tony J. Selimi. But before you let me take you there, let's start with why it's so crucial because it's here where you'll learn about the experiences that come with promoting mental health in the workplace.

Genuine mental health success stories can be few and far between, but they exist, and you can read more of my own here. It's also important to share the following authentic experiences because it gives the reader an idea of what drives me wholeheartedly to bring education, training, and coaching for better mental health to the fore in our workplaces. And for senior leadership management teams, it's crucial because it forms the basis of why it's essential you and your teams are coached, mentored, and trained by experts? The "why" that makes me so driven to be of service to others is because of the equally adverse and optimistic reactions felt through my sharing of my story for the benefit of others.

Without fail in all my places of employment, many employees at my level whom I've encountered through sharing my story have loved it and loved me doing so. In addition, many who struggle with their mental health have also personally confided to me that they have read Tony's books and would love for the company to hire him, so they too can experience the breakthroughs and the transformation of his many clients I've experienced.

Many people have sent me private messages to share their personal and emotionally driven resentments toward their employer, which also included senior management and some people who would do the same by simply sharing my story authentically. The truth is that some criticised me publicly and also those who supported me. I am grateful to both, as they are essential components for improving myself, my life, and my productivity at work. In truth, these resentments come from people who have not even met me or got to know me and my background better.

Alarmingly though, many people seem to fail to see through being blinded by such resentments towards people who have endured the pain before and for us and the damage this behaviour creates on our mental health and throughout the business. This behaviour makes everyone's life more difficult and lowers productivity and overall business performance. So, wouldn't it be beneficial to invest in coaching and training to change it?

Even more alarmingly, some people seem to criticise me for investing in improving my life without knowing anything about the struggles, pains, and sacrifices my coach, mentor, educator, and healer Tony J. Selimi helped other people overcome in the last six years and me. As humans, we love to share recommendations on food, restaurants, travel destinations, etc. The question you may ponder is, why is it that we find it difficult to share the work of the same people who, like Tony, transform millions of people's lives globally for the greater good? Is it our jealousy, that part of ourselves that we have neglected?

Working with Tony opened my eyes to thirty years of acting from pain and treating others from this inner discord. It is why I now love sharing all he has helped me overcome so that others can benefit. You can read more about why living with a mask is what creates the very same struggles we all look to avoid in Tony's recent book The Unfakeable Code?. And how using the principles shared can help us grow our minds, take care of our emotional wellbeing, and help us make more objective choices and decisions before the undesired situations occur in our lives. He makes a brilliant case on how we find ourselves being a people pleaser, desperate for attention and validation.

Most of the time, ?many of us fail to grasp the concept of sharing as caring; we only choose it on people and things our biased opinions tell us to do. So, let's take this opportunity and make these articles and the fantastic books Tony has written viral so more individuals, leaders, and companies can benefit from it. After all, sharing is indeed caring. ?

These personal judgements and resentments, whether they are emitted directly or indirectly as they have been in the past, can impact our wellbeing lower our efficiency and productivity. A while back, I also wrote this article on the cost of ignorance. You can read more here.

What is going on in our mind contributes to holding the company and its staff back from truly 'unlocking its potential' and will continue to do so. Hence, many I speak with often ask themselves how much pain it will take before those responsible for their welfare in the workplace take the action steps required to alleviate these personal and organisational pains.

Although many support me sharing my story, what is shocking to observe in the last twenty years of employment is how a small percentage of people would have adverse reactions to me sharing my story authentically to help others, and the companies I work for grow, improve, and transform are as follows.

• Senior colleagues would tell me not to speak about mental health at work.
• I was overlooked for promotion because a senior colleague resented me to speak about mental health in the workplace. The promotion ended up going to another who lacked the experience to execute the role efficiently, later resulting in the company having part of their contract terminated because of said person's inexperience and senior colleagues' resentments clouding their judgement.
• Rooms would go silent when I entered, or colleagues who would once speak freely to me began ignoring me in corridors.
• Jibes, jokes, verbal abuse, and bullying occurred weekly, if not daily, because of my being open about my past mental health illnesses.
• Get insults for my attempt to make a difference from senior leadership, management, and employees.

As someone actively promoting mental health for the greater good of all, if we are ever going to stand a chance of breaking the stigma attached and change the attitudes of the behaviours directed towards those of us who suffer from poor mental health, then we must come together in one voice.

I'm positive many of you today have noticed, whether through social media or a company's internal communications networks, that many companies, without fail, look to promote mental health and wellbeing. Moreover, a vast majority say that they are exacting the changes required. Suppose you are someone working in Mental Health. In that case, I highly recommend distributing copies of A Path to Wisdom, #Loneliness, and The Unfakeable Code? to every employee and a senior member and get the transformative principles Tony shares in his books disseminated across the organisations.

They will improve employee wellbeing company productivity and assist in breaking the existing TABOO's around mental health so more people can openly and transparently talk in your workplace. Why? Because the costs associated with mental health are still on the rise and are only predicted to grow further.

Perhaps you think what I am sharing in this article should raise RED flags and set alarm bells ringing throughout the organisation. It would be insane to keep going on like this, especially if the tangible results the business is searching for are failing to materialise in a physical realm. Physically as in a decrease to sickness, absence rates and payments, and an improvement in retention rates, and the companies' profits not being drained by costs associated with mental health.

Many companies now encourage us to go above and beyond and share our mental health experiences openly and transparently. But, unfortunately, the price of doing so for me and it may well have been for others, is that it resulted in me becoming more isolated and lonelier in the workplace because senior leadership and management have no idea, fundamentally because of a lack of expert coaching and training on how to react to someone who does share, despite them encouraging us to do so in the first place.

'Food for thought' companies' are encouraging employees to support their mental health strategies and policies by going above and beyond, but what does it truly say about such policies when those doing the encouraging react with silence. Get them to read those three critically acclaimed and highly recommended Multi-Award-Winning books written by Tony J. Selimi and see how the narrative around performance, wellbeing, and mental health would change for the better and forever.

The majority of companies now recognise the importance of supporting employees' mental health but still, in truth, are lacking in creating sustainable solutions to do so, even more so when it comes to supporting staff who do openly share. This clearly shows a lack of thorough planning because, in my experience, there is no support for someone like me who shares to inspire others to get better, clearly reinforcing the position that experts must train senior leadership management through interactive human means. That goes beyond just using the digital tools as shared in article two.

To continue along as you may have been doing with digital technology will only create more pains for your business. Subsequently, building an environment that supports mental health will fail to materialise in your actualised physical daily working reality. Meaning your people will continue to suffer in silence, and costs associated will continue to soar and drain your business.

For those of you that do share, work may continue to be a place of isolation. I also suggest starting reading the books as mentioned earlier, and when ready, invest in being coached by this man that one by one, is changing the lives of many around the world. And for most companies who continue to say their peoples are their greatest assets, as all do, Tony can assist you in successfully addressing this lack of alignment with the company values. Something that happens when companies fail to support their written words will continue to mean that for many, the values stated will continue to be hollow words on a website.

Paul McMonagle Piping Supervisor, Workpack Engineer and Mental Health Ambassador??

PS – Tony works on a virtual basis and in-person with clients all over the globe, facilitating the realisation and accomplishment of their personal, professional, and business goals. Here are four ways he can assist you in creating life-changing breakthroughs, growth, and accelerating your journey to excellent health, influence, and success.

#1… Book a Breakthrough Consultation Session by sending an email to?[email protected].

#2 ... Grab your copy of Tony's #1 Amazon bestselling and Multi-Award-Winning books, A Path to Wisdom, #Loneliness, The Unfakeable Code?, and enrol in his Mindfulness for Higher Productivity, Performance, and Profitable Life Udemy Course! Click here to join thousands of his happy students.

#3 ... Make the fastest progress by hiring Tony to work with you on your business and train your teams. Just reply to this message and put "private" in the subject line. Let us know a little about you or your business and what you'd like to work on together, and I'll get you the quote, invoice, and the necessary booking details.

#4 ... Hire Tonye as a speaker to educate, inspire and transform your audience at your next company or industry event. Click HERE to download his speaker sheet and fill in the form with your event info, and once I hear from you, I'll send you the contract and fee info back.

For more information, go to https://tonyselimi.com.