Workplace Mental Heath, Wellness, Well-Being, and You

    THERE IS AN ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM – MANY SERIOUS MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS ORIGINATE FROM UNABATED WORKPLACE HARASSMENT   Organizations spend an enormous amount of money on employees’ mental health – treatment, decreased productivity, presenteeism, absenteeism, short and long-term disability, and losing, then replacing what were excellent employees who have dropped out. 50% of workplace harassed employees experience mental-health-related problems according to research conducted in 2015 by the Canadian Mental Health Commission of Canada.  A survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute came up with similar results a year earlier.  Harassment causes a variety of mental health disorders in employees including shame; serious stress; panic attacks; unbearable anxiety; severe and debilitating depression; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD ); and can trigger the onset of serious physical illnesses as well.  The employees suffer, they are afraid to go to work, and the organization ends

  ORGANIZATIONS NEED MORE THAN AN EAP: 10 EMPLOYEE SKILLS ORGANIZATIONS CAN TEACH THEIR EMPLOYEES AND IMPROVE THEIR WELL-BEING  Improved Mental Health in the Workplace. I am honored to be a pioneer and initiator of many "firsts" in the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) arena across many employers. I made it "easy access" for employees and their family members to seek help and counseling for their emotional and mental health problems. Not all employees affected adversely use the EAP when they could have used professional counseling but many did and still do. Today, EAP is still useful. Emotional and mental health problems are unplanned events. They occur and immediate help and counseling needs to be available for those people. In your corporate focus, although there are differing opinions, I advocate for a separation between physical health illnesses and mental health illnesses even though they should be both accepted as everyday occurrences when they do occur. You n