Are people in your workplace becoming more conscious of the issue of mental health? Of course, but you won’t believe how huge that growth has been. The rise in the demand for mental health training is a 4,000% increase between 2019 and 2020.
Resilience and mental health are important for a healthy workplace. What can you do to improve them? Read on to learn what you can do about improving resilience, mental health, and stay above water.
What is Resilience and Mental Health?
Amid all the pressures of our working lives, the ability to bounce back is vital.
Things at work don’t always go as we expect them to. Sometimes they can get on top of us. Resilience is what we need to handle the stresses and strains of life.
Improving resilience in the workplace depends on good mental health. Emotional, social, and psychological health or well-being provides the strength you need when the going gets difficult.
Good mental health is partly the result of our genetic inheritance. Life experiences can also have an impact.
Just as good hygiene, diet, exercise, and rest help physical health there’s much you can do to maintain mental health and develop resilience.
Work-Life Balance
Work and other aspects of your life can sometimes come into conflict. This lack of balance can be stress-inducing. Workplaces that promote the importance of achieving a balance between work and home life are likely to have more resilient employees.
When home relationships with partners, children, or friends are strong and healthy it can provide you with greater confidence and emotional support if work is a challenge. By the same token, if work pressures take you away from home life, it can be disruptive to those relationships. Either way, this lack of balance is damaging to mental health and resilience.
Workplace policies on work-life balance can help build organizational resilience. Flexible working, child and elder carer friendly policies, as well as encouraging employees to take reasonable time off work can all help.
Physical Health
Maintaining good physical health helps mental health. Eating a well-balanced nutritious diet helps. Taking regular exercise, even walking, reduces stress and releases feel-good chemicals called endorphins into the body.
It’s also important to sleep well. Healthy sleep patterns help you face exertions or workplace pressure.
Counseling
If you have mental health challenges it’s important to get some help. Counseling and other talking therapies have a track record in helping people with their mental health.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand and control the feelings and thoughts of others and of yourself. You can develop emotional intelligence It can be helpful in building resilience.
Training in emotional intelligence involves practice in putting yourself in the place of others. This helps develop the understanding of multiple perspectives. Stress can sometimes be the result of conflict and interpersonal difficulties so gaining an insight into others can be helpful.
Emotional intelligence training can also include the development of skills in communication. This can improve relationships and minimize potential conflicts.
Resilience, Mental Health, and Well-being
Well-being at work isn’t just about a safe workplace. It’s about being mentally well too. Improved resilience and mental health, along with overall well-being, can help you stay well at work.
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Also published on Medium.
