Today, we’re discussing a topic that’s close to my heart and crucial for everyone – psychological health. In our fast-paced, ever-changing world, taking care of our minds is just as important as taking care of our bodies. Whether juggling work, family, or personal aspirations, maintaining a healthy mental state is critical to thriving, not just surviving.
In this post, we’ll explore practical strategies and insights to help you boost your psychological well-being. We’ll touch on how to create a supportive environment for yourself and others, recognize the signs of stress, and develop resilience to life’s inevitable ups and downs. It’s all about finding balance, nurturing your inner self, and fostering a positive mindset to carry you through any challenge.
In This Article You’ll Learn
- How to Recognize the Signs of Stress: Learn to identify early warning signs of stress and burnout in yourself and others.
- Ways to Build Resilience: Discover practical strategies for building mental resilience and coping more effectively with life’s challenges.
- Why It’s So Important to Create a Supportive Environment: Understand the importance of a supportive environment and how to cultivate it for better psychological well-being.
Introduction
Psychological health has long been on the periphery for EHS professionals. Even when I wrote my first book more than twenty years ago, it was recognized as one of the most significant issues that could affect health. So, what’s happened over the past twenty years? Things are changing, especially in light of COVID-19, where more than half of American workers are reporting to suffer from mental health issues (Selko, 2021).
Countries like Australia have a general duty on employers to protect health (including psychological health) in workplace health and safety laws. They are now considering changing model regulations to address risks to psychological health and relevant risk controls. Some member states of the European Union already require that employers complete risk assessments and highlight the need to consider psychosocial risks or mental health through health and safety legal frameworks.
The Link Between Job Stressors and Worker Health
A large body of evidence demonstrates substantial effects of work-related psychosocial hazards on risks of mental health disorders (Oakman et al., 2018, p.220), which is one of the most costly occupational health problems in many countries. Karasek and Theorell’s demand-control model (Karasek et al., 1988) is commonly referenced and indicates that high job strain (high job demand + low job control) harms health.
There is also some evidence that other job stressors, individually or in combination, influence mental health. This includes job insecurity, bullying or psychological harassment, low social support at work, and effort-reward imbalance. The topic is even more unique because all working people can potentially be exposed to job stressors. So, preventing or reducing exposure to job stressors and improving the psychosocial quality of work could enormously impact health and safety.
An Integrated Approach to Managing Risk
In the past, addressing psychological hazards at work focused on the three traditional disciplines of medicine, public health, and psychology. However, an integrated approach recommended by LaMontagne et al., 2014 considers three elements: (1) identify and reduce work-related risk factors; (2) promote mental health by focusing on the positive aspects of work, as well as worker strengths and positive capacities; and (3) address mental health problems regardless of cause.
However, perhaps the most challenging question from a policy and practice perspective is, ” How do we do this?” Approaches must be tailored and context-appropriate, making them resource-intensive and complicated compared to interventions for most other occupational hazards.
This means paying attention to work tasks, workloads and schedules, role conflict and ambiguity, and quality of supervision. An organization needs to understand these factors just as they understand how to control exposure to mainstream health and safety hazards such as chemicals, noise, and dust.
Focusing on positive aspects of work is a fundamentally different approach from the systems or risk-based approach in occupational health and safety. Rather than fixing what is wrong with an individual, group, or organization, the focus is on promoting positive aspects of work and worker capabilities. Work can provide purpose and meaning, enhance self-efficacy and self-esteem, and both promote and protect mental health. Positive approaches provide a valuable complementary supplement to risk-based or negatively framed approaches.
The third element of an integrated approach to address psychological health at work involves being receptive to and improving literacy about mental health. There is evidence that improving mental health literacy or developing skills for early intervention can be helpful. This includes initiatives such as Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and reconsidering attitudes to mental illness stigma through organizational culture. And while addressing modifiable risk factors is essential, so is building employee awareness of and employer commitment to the need to address working conditions.
Summary
In conclusion, psychological health at work is one of the most critical issues. EHS professionals have a role to play by:
- Helping individuals and organizations understand the impact of work-related stressors on psychological health, including job control and job demand.
- Promoting open conversations about mental health and flipping the conversation to reduce stigma.
- Providing information and resources for individuals and leaders to recognize when psychological health is impacted, including signs and symptoms (Mental Health First Aid).
Helpful Resources
- Switch on Your Brain, by Dr. Caroline Leaf
- Atomic Habits, by James Clear
- The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
- My LinkedIn Post on Health, Safety, and Well-being
- My LinkedIn Post on Psychosocial Risk
Bibliography
Eurofound and EU-OSHA. (2014). Psychosocial risks in Europe: Prevalence and strategies for prevention. Publications Office of the European Union. https://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/psychosocial-risks-europe-prevalence-and-strategies-prevention
Karasek, R., Theorell, T., Schwartz, J., Schnall, P., Pieper, C., & Michela, J. (1988). Job characteristics in relation to the prevalence of myocardial infarction in the US Health Examination Survey (HES) and the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES). American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), 78, 910-918. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.78.8.910
LaMontagne, A. D., Martin, A., Page, K. M., Reavley, N. J., Noblet, A. J., Milner, A. J., Keegel, T., & Smith, P. M. (2014). Workplace mental health: developing an integrated intervention approach. BMC Psychiatry, 14(131). https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-244X-14-131
Oakman, J., Macdonald, W., Bartram, T., Keegel, T., & Kinsman, N. (2018). Workplace risk management practices to prevent musculoskeletal and mental health disorders: What are the gaps? Safety Science, 101, 220-230. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0925753516307032?via%3Dihub
Selko, A. (2021, May 4). Employees Need Help with Mental Health. EHS Today. https://www.ehstoday.com/ehs-outloud-blog/article/21163107/employees-need-help-with-mental-health-lets-address-this
