As a leader which bucket resonates with you?

Can we ask you a question?

We have found that leaders and their organizations typically fall into one of what our Founder Stephane Grenier CM, MSC, CD, LLD refers to as the "three buckets" of ways to address workplace mental health. You can read more about the topic via his blog post here: https://www.supportyourpeople.com/resources/3-approaches-to-workplace-mental-health-and-the-one-all-leaders-should-consider

As a leader, which bucket resonates with you and why? Read on and share your insights in the comments below.

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Although increasing awareness is unquestionably a good thing, there isn’t any hard evidence that indicates only talking about mental health via things such as lunch and learns, giving away bracelets with inspirational quotes, and other perks and awards diminish the likelihood of a person being in distress and needing support.

While these gestures are well-intentioned, and while we do believe that the conversation around mental health and wellbeing needs to be present and ongoing, awareness alone can, in some cases, lean towards a culture of toxic positivity that leaves individuals who are struggling to feel invalidated, unseen, and unheard.

Talking about mental health is important, and this needs to be coupled with tangible action and support.

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The significance of clinicians and the service they provide to patients is notable. However, bringing a clinical approach into the workplace, whether it be through a professional referencing academia and statistics, or a training program that is focused on symptoms and diagnostics, can leave a person experiencing a mental health challenge feeling overwhelmed, and confused.

While we do believe that offering clinical support to individuals who are struggling is important, and in some cases, crucial, many clinical support services provided rely on the person who is struggling to be the one to take action. Yet, evidence shows that when someone is struggling, they are less likely to reach out for support on their own.

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Leaders who participate in the mental health conversation, drive change and support their people find themselves in this third “bucket.” They model simple, caring behaviours and walk the talk of being authentic and vulnerable. Their executive team (and therefore the whole organization) thinks about mental health as an opportunity rather than a problem that can only be addressed by clinicians. Their employees are encouraged to recognize signs of distress in themselves and others and to take action to reach out to support one another.

They crowdsource natural human benevolence, implementing a workplace peer support program that leverages the lived experience of individuals who can be trained to provide support to their peers.

Besides genuine empathy, a peer supporter can promote treatment through personal empowerment and become a role model for recovery. Even if peers don’t share the same mental health experiences, that connection holds great value. People can start to feel better simply by knowing they are not alone and that others also understand what they are going through.