Provider Accountability in Workplace Mental Health – Who is Educating Your People?

To say that the topic of workplace mental health has hit fever pitch is an understatement, just when you think there can’t be any more noise, any more providers, any more apps, conferences or whitepapers, boom, up pops another glossy brochure. With literally hundreds of workplace mental health training courses on offer, delivered amid a mostly unregulated marketplace, it raises serious questions about who is actually educating your staff in this critical, complex and often high risk area.

As suggested in the following article by CSIRO (https://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2018/Six-megatrends-workplace-health-safety), the workplace mental ill-health epidemic isn’t going away any time soon, so it’s up to all of us to up the ante in terms of how we are tackling workplace mental health issues and who we are using in this domain.

As a workplace psychologist with more than a few grey hairs and more than 16 years’ experience working alongside, collaborating with and learning from genuine experts in workplace mental health, I am increasingly alarmed at what I am encountering. From supposed ‘health practitioners’ with absolutely no qualifications, understanding or background in mental health, let alone workplace mental health, delivering mental health training sessions to senior leaders who have responsibilities for thousands of staff; Situations where workshop participants have apparently been publicly ‘diagnosed’ with a specific mental illness by their trainer in front of their colleagues during a training session (ahhh, just one of the dangers of 2 day courses that make people feel qualified); Archaic mental illness awareness training programs, that after often cited as doing more harm than good, receiving ‘prestigious’ industry awards, and supposed ‘Industry Leading’ medical professionals blaming limited access to psychiatric services as one of the major causes of work-related mental illness (confusing). It is worrisome!

However, it is simple supply and demand – the demand for workplace mental health services is so high and the supply of professionals and organisations that genuinely know their stuff can’t keep up. It is a breeding ground for opportunists. For those interested in a quick dollar, it has never been easier to hang up a shingle that says ‘mental health thought leader’ and charge several thousands of dollars a day for consulting and training. Frankly, it is dangerous! When it comes to workplace mental health, you owe it to yourself, your organisations, your people, and your customers/clients, to make sure you know what you are getting. Here are some illustrative examples below:

As a psychologist, there is a professional obligation not to practice in areas where you don’t have sufficient training, competence and experience (but in reality I do not think this is very well understood or enforced). It is a false assumption that being a ‘qualified psychologist’ means you understand workplace mental health - a clinical psychologist will often know very little about organisations structures, psychosocial systems, psychological job demands, workplace mental health obligations, primary prevention, WHS obligations etc. that are critical when it comes to workplace mental health. Similarly, an organisational psychologist will often know very little about mental health, treatment of mental illness, psychosocial systems, workplace mental health obligations, primary prevention, WHS obligations etc. I am pretty sure neither clin’s nor org’s are typically trained in workplace mental ill-health and preventative approaches as part of their tertiary education programs.

Similarly, someone with lived experience, be they a sportsperson or celebrity, might have an exceptional knowledge of their own experience of mental illness, and the factors in their lives, their workplace and history that may have contributed to their distress and recovery. However, this doesn’t necessarily give them an understanding of the aetiology of all mental health issues, an appreciation of the complexity of workplace systems that influence mental wellbeing, or an understanding of best practice treatment, psychological risk identification and mitigation or contemporary best practice in maximising the psychological health benefits of work.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some incredible people working in this domain, and I do not want to take away from the great work they are doing, however there are serious limitations in this space across the entire allied health and workplace training and consulting domain. The sad fact is, the field of workplace mental health has evolved more rapidly than the education systems that develop the knowledge and skills of those who would typically occupy this space. This doesn’t mean we should just settle for second best though.

So who is educating your people or consulting to your organisation? I would suggest asking them about their:

• Mental health related tertiary qualifications (seriously, a 1 or 2 day course just doesn’t cut it). Are they part of a regulated allied health area? What CPD do they need to do? How long have they been practicing, in a fully registered capacity?
• Actual expertise working with organisations like your own in the area of workplace mental health (community mental health is vastly different from workplace mental health) – what have they actually done in your domain?
• How do they know that what they are training you in is best practice? What is the evidence-base for it?
• Intentions to look at a medical model, a psychosocial model or a blend of both?
• Intentions to cover, primary, secondary or tertiary intentions (I would even get them to explain this to you – it is critical to knowing what you are going to get)
• Understanding of contemporary workplace psychosocial factors that influence mental health.
• Expected outcomes from their education efforts – if it is just raising awareness, this can be a problem. Awareness without action is futile! It is too easy to raise awareness, allude to what to do, then leave…. What skills/capabilities are they going to impart, how do they ensure these will be reinforced, how are they evaluating their impact (a happy sheet simply doesn’t cut it).
• Plans and capabilities for dealing with common issues that so often arise when talking about mental health (e.g, suicidal ideation, recent trauma, current workplace bullying)?

Trust me, the good workplace mental health consultants and education providers will LOVE being asked these questions – don’t be afraid to ask them, not the salesperson who sold you the program, but the actual trainer. If your trainer/consultant knows what they are doing, they will revel in the opportunity to respond!

Remember, when it comes to workplace mental health, good intentions do not always equal good outcomes! The workplace mental health sector needs greater transparency and accountability, and a huge part of this is ensuring that the procurers and consumers of workplace mental health services, are asking the right questions and aren’t just settling for something flashy, quick, easy or a course that someone they know in another organisation thought was worthwhile…..