Mental Health

Mental Health

Stories Can Help Eliminate Mental Health Stigma, But Is The Workplace A Safe Place to Share Yours?
ByMike McBride December 7, 2023December 6, 2023 Reading Time: 2 minutes

Bosses, ask yourself the question. Is this a safe place for people to talk about their mental health? If it’s not, what can you do to change that? The article above has some advice for you. Maybe it all comes down to the kind of people who work for you and the behavior that you tolerate. If someone is honest about their mental health struggles and then you allow them to be stigmatized by others, it’s not a safe place.

And if it’s not a safe place, your wellbeing program doesn’t matter.

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Mental Health

Building a Culture that Supports Mental Health By Creating Opportunities to be Kind
ByMike McBride November 6, 2023November 9, 2023 Reading Time: 2 minutes

As I said, I’ve seen this same research. More than once. I’ve talked about it here and here, and probably a few other times as well. On the individual level, acts of kindness toward others are beneficial for not only the receiver but the giver. As a peer, I can do what I can to give to my coworkers, but what does it look like to have a culture that encourages, rewards, and maybe even expects that kind of behavior?

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Career | Mental Health

Linked – Looking for a Job While the World is Falling Apart
ByMike McBride October 19, 2023October 19, 2023 Reading Time: 3 minutes

The advice in the article below might seem familiar. I’ve seen plenty of advice on the topic of how to keep moving in life during difficult times over the last few years. Things like turning off the news, keeping to a normal routine, etc. What I like about this article is that it acknowledges the elephant in the room that typical advice doesn’t when you’re not working.

“Many people are in a job search and have to keep the quest moving regardless of world events.”

Therein lies the rub. The difference between being informed and being overwhelmed often comes down to being able to turn the news off, set boundaries around our social media use, and so on. But it can be especially difficult to do that when your day isn’t filled with things you have to do.

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Career | Mental Health

Linked – “Burnout is a relationship problem”: A conversation with Michael Leiter
ByMike McBride October 13, 2023October 12, 2023 Reading Time: 2 minutes

Trust is going to have to be hard-earned in the tech industry after the last year. That’s a shame because figuring out how to not burn out employees is going to take everyone working together.

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Mental Health

The Mental Health Impacts of Being New to the Workplace
ByMike McBride September 15, 2023September 14, 2023 Reading Time: 2 minutes

There should be no question about how to access resources. There should be an expectation that there are people you can reach out to who would help you navigate those resources and that managers are supportive of basic mental health activities that help avoid burnout.

Anything less just isn’t good enough.

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Mental Health

Linked – How to spot wellbeing washing at work
ByMike McBride September 5, 2023September 5, 2023 Reading Time: 2 minutes

As pointed out in the link below, these types of behaviors break trust. I can’t trust leadership who doesn’t act in a way that matches the talk, and in too many cases the talk about well-being is just talk. You could say the same about diversity and inclusion and other efforts that exist mostly to appeal to customers and potential employees instead of demonstrating a true commitment to those things.

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