Can recovery happen in the workplace?

September is a big awareness month for behavioral health, hosting both Suicide Awareness Month and Recovery Month. In this strange 2020, both topics have become far more prominent to many people. I kicked off the month with my first Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, hosted by the anonymous Team Blind platform.

While working at the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health, our Workforce Education and Training manager emphasized the importance of behavioral health accommodations, and trained management on it, just as with any other health condition/disability. We hired many people with lived experience, including those who had received services from our department. Yet there is always room to grow. I’m grateful to work at a company that supports these efforts, as emphasized by my colleague who shared her positive experience getting behavioral health assistance when she was a newer employee.

In my newest SAS blog post, I’ve described my observations and calls-to-action based on my AMA experience. Below is the summary:

1.     People are interested in behavioral health. We need to reinforce and support self-awareness more!

2.     Stigma and discrimination in the workplace are real. We need to do better as a society in improving workplace acceptance of behavioral health.

3.     People are willing to seek and receive behavioral health care... but barriers are real. We need to raise awareness of the legitimate barriers to care and actively work to decrease them.