Mental Health and Wellness in the Workplace
by Valerie Rowe, M.Sc., R.P
When we talk about mental health, we usually think about someone with a psychological psychiatric disorder who is unable to function sufficiently without medication treatment. Wellness can refer to the well-being of the person. If we put these together, we are referring to how mentally well is the workplace and how well it is for employees to function. Many of us have workplaces that are unwell and have staff that are unwell. Our productivity depends on how we build our teams to function Emotionally, Psychologically, Physically and Spiritually as per our Medicine Wheel teachings.
May I also include the additional wellness aspect needed in recognizing the impact of trauma in our personal lives being transferred into Lateral Violence in our Workplace.
Lateral Violence shows its ugly face: we abuse our own people, we become the oppressor within the workplace, we direct our anger towards our employees, we have bullying behaviours, hostility, sarcasm, undermining activities, shaming others, refusing to work with someone, backstabbing, ganging up on others and making snide comments to name a few. Too often, we carry the damaging effects of our trauma into our workplace and in relationships within our lives and work.
So, let me go back a little to focus on areas we need to address. Our workplace cannot be a functional, supportive place until we address certain areas of dysfunction and use a Traum Informed Care lens to run our workplaces. We need to be aware of Trauma Informed Care and how it applies to our workplaces:
The Key Principles Behind Trauma-Informed Care
Here are some of the key principles of trauma-informed care:
Safety and trust. It’s vital to ensure that all employees feel physically and psychologically secure in the care environment. This includes creating spaces that are welcoming and non-threatening, where employees can feel in control and respected. Establishing trust and transparency in all interactions is also crucial, as it helps rebuild the person’s sense of security and self-worth, it is often eroded in abusive relationships, bullying behaviour, lack of confidentiality and fear of being fired.
Empowerment. This emphasizes giving your employees a voice and a choice in their care, recognizing their strengths, and supporting their autonomy. We need to be more mindful that we all come from the affects of colocalization, impacts of residential school, dysfunctional role-models and families. Directors and Managers who are supportive, encouraging, who appreciate each one of us as being part to the team and add to empowerment. A simple hello, thank you, kind remarks of support and acknowledgement goes a long way to one feeling needed, supported and valued.
Collaboration and mutuality. Employers work alongside survivors as partners. Our workplace needs to be a place of collaboration. We need to be careful of bullying behaviour, impartiality and favouritism, nepotism and jealousy. These behaviours degrade us and cause dissection - We really need to bring back our teachings of Kindness, Gratitude, Hope, Wisdom, Trust… in practice not just words.
Sensitivity and understanding. This requires shifting the question from “What’s wrong with you?” to something like “Can I help you, I see you are overwhelmed?” “Is there anything I can do to help you” This change in perspective allows for a more compassionate and comprehensive understanding of a each worker’s experiences and behaviors. Being sensitive to the fact that many of us may have other traumas and trial in our personal lives and may need extra support or understanding, showing a supportive work environment and caring enough for each other. The areas which hinder growth and isolate someone can be in our blame and talking behind one’s back in a negative way, yelling and demeaning behaviour, finding fault or purposely trying to get an employee fired by lying about them or gossiping about them negatively.
The more we become more mindful within ourselves, the more we can bring a change in our behaviours and interactions with others. Maybe we need to do our own therapeutic work, maybe we need to develop a practice of connecting within, with Spirit and with Nature to start our day, Maybe, developing a positive encouraging mindset with gratefulness and appreciations or just checking-in with your team/teammates daily, either before we begin our day or at the end of the day. Whatever you choose work towards building a better mentally healthy workplace where wellness over-flows.
Be Well, Be Brave and Be Strong, Always
References:
“Aboriginal Lateral Violence” – Native Women’s Association of Ontario (NWAC) Medicine Wheel reference
“What does Trauma Informed Care Mean?” - Connections for Abused Women and their Children (CAWC), Feb 05, 2024