The mind grind

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It's been nearly a decade since John Melnick, in the grip of a deep depression, swam out into the middle of the Red River, dressed in his business suit, to end the pain.

Something changed his mind in the murky depths and he swam back to shore and has been in recovery (medication and cognitive behaviour therapy) ever since.

Along the way, the former financial planner sold his business and embarked on a new career as a professional speaker, with a vision to "smash the stigma" that keeps illnesses like his in the shadows.

A Winnipeg organization recently asked Melnick to submit a proposal to speak at its annual conference. "The person arranging the conference had heard me speak about ways to recognize and deal with depression in the workplace and thought it was a good idea to educate people on the topic," recalls the recipient of a 2011 Hero of Mental Health Award from the Canadian Mental Health Association.

But apparently not everyone thought it was a good idea. Melnick's proposal got the kibosh, he says, after one committee member wondered aloud why anyone would want to disclose that they have a mental-health issue.

Fair question.

We joke about taking a "mental-health day," but a 2008 poll commissioned by the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace revealed that employees believe the workplace is where they are least likely to get support. The majority (64 per cent) of adults with mental-health problems keep their condition secret from their employers, the poll showed.

In another Canadian study, just under half of respondents said that a mental disorder was just an excuse for poor behaviour.

Deri Latimer, a Winnipeg-based motivational speaker who specializes in creating positive work cultures, says she got some "strange reactions" after she recently rebranded herself specifically as a "mental-health speaker" and even started using the designation on Facebook and LinkedIn, and as part of her email signature.

"Really?" "Why?" "Are you sure?" friends and colleagues apparently asked. One of the latter even suggested the new handle might lose her some clients. Latimer says the reaction doesn't really surprise her.

"The term mental health conjures up an immediate image of mental illness, so people get uncomfortable and employers would rather that employees just go to the EAP (employee assistance program) and deal with their stuff offline," says Latimer, who was the keynote speaker at a recent Manitoba Chambers of Commerce luncheon to kick off National Mental Health Week, May 7 to 13.

It's time to turn that thinking around, says the ebullient, spiky-haired speaker and author of Wake Up to Your Habits: 52 Strategies to Move Out of the Habit Rut and Into a New Habit Groove.

During her speech, Latimer spoke about the importance of cultivating daily habits and practises, such as mindfulness, that promote mental health and combat the "epidemic of overwhelm" and technology-induced "continuous partial attention" syndrome that afflict most modern workplaces.

Taking care of our mental health at work has never been more urgent than it is in today's knowledge-based economy, according to a recent report from the Global Business Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health, a group of scientists and medical and business professionals established in 1998 to raise awareness of the economic impact of mental illness.

"Most new jobs today demand cerebral, not manual, skills, defining what we call a brain-based economy," they write, "where brain-based mental disorders are the leading causes of workplace disability," exacting an annual $1-trillion toll in the European Community and North American Free Trade Area combined (four per cent of gross domestic product).

Prevalence rates of depression are likely being underestimated at between five and 10 per cent of the population, the report says. An Ipsos-Reid poll (the largest workplace public opinion survey ever done with North American employees) commissioned by the Roundtable found "a country within a continent" of depression in the workplace -- 30 per cent of those surveyed knew someone who had been diagnosed while 18 per cent had themselves been diagnosed.

In Canada alone, it's estimated that mental illness costs the economy $51 billion per year in health-care services, lost workdays and work disruptions. Yet Canada has been the only western government without a mental-health strategy.

Meanwhile, financial rewards for damages caused by "mental injury" at work have increased over the past five or so years by as much as 700 per cent, according to the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), established under the Harper government.

(The commission is set to launch its new mental-health strategy today. On April 27, it released Psychological Health and Safety: An Action Guide for Employers, available free of charge at www.mentalhealthcommission.ca.)

Employers need to lead the charge in removing the stigma around mental health by not only making resources available, but also "supporting the message" to use those resources, says Nicole Chammartin, executive director of the CMHA's Winnipeg division.

Great-West Life has made a commitment to public mental health, she says, with its online Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace. The website (www.workplacestrategiesformentalhealth.com) provides employers with free information, tools and initiatives aimed at improving workplace mental health.

"But we still don't see a really strong corporate leader in terms of engaging that in their own workplace," Chammartin says.

A core component of providing a psychologically safe workplace, she says, is offering some kind of EAP program (a benefit program intended to help employees with personal problems) or at least providing access to counselling.

"That's a no-brainer," Chammartin say. "The reality is many of us need to access psychological or counselling services at different points in our life. It doesn't necessarily mean we have a mental illness. It just means we're having challenges to our mental health."

Cathie Bolan, owner of Linden Ridge Eye Care, did hire Melnick to come in and give his workplace depression talk to her staff -- of less than a dozen employees.

Not only does she have people in her life dealing with mental-health issues, Bolan says she's been on the receiving end of ignorant comments about her Type 1 diabetes, another invisible condition.

"I just wanted to educate my staff," she says. "People can be very unforgiving when something isn't visibly a disease."

Tina Holland, director of education for Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba, says while it's still "slow going," she's getting more and more calls from companies asking her to come and speak to employees about mood disorders. The owners of one small firm, for example, recently had her in to educate them about a condition their receptionist had been diagnosed with.

"We have to start treating mental illness as just another illness," says Holland, who has been successfully treating her bipolar illness with medication for more than 30 years. She says she has experienced workplace discrimination in the past.

"If a whole bunch of people at your workplace had cancer -- the stats say one in five of us will experience mental illness -- wouldn't we face it head on and get some supports for those people? This is no different."

carolin.vesely@freepress.mb.ca

Building a better workplace

RESEARCHERS for Great-West Life's Guarding Minds @ Work (GM@W) strategy identified 12 psychosocial risk (PSR) factors known to have a powerful impact on organizational health, the health of individual employees and the financial bottom line. The website (www.guardingmindsatwork.ca) also offers a confidential survey workplaces can do to assess how mentally healthy (or not) they currently are.

1. Psychological Support -- A work environment where co-workers and supervisors are supportive of employees' psychological and mental-health concerns, and respond appropriately as needed.

2. Organizational Culture -- A work environment characterized by trust, honesty and fairness.

3. Clear Leadership and Expectations -- A work environment where there is effective leadership and support that helps employees know what they need to do, how their work contributes to the organization, and whether there are impending changes.

4. Civility and Respect -- A work environment where employees are respectful and considerate in their interactions with one another, as well as with customers, clients and the public.

5. Psychological Job Fit -- A work environment where there is a good fit between employees' interpersonal and emotional competencies, their job skills, and the position they hold.

6. Growth and Development -- A work environment where employees receive encouragement and support in the development of their interpersonal, emotional and job skills.

7. Recognition and Reward -- A work environment where there is appropriate acknowledgement and appreciation of employees' efforts in a fair and timely manner.

8. Involvement and Influence -- A work environment where employees are included in discussions about how their work is done and how important decisions are made.

9. Workload Management -- A work environment where tasks and responsibilities can be accomplished successfully within the time available

10. Engagement -- A work environment where employees enjoy and feel connected to their work, and where they feel motivated to do their job well.

11. Balance -- A work environment where there is recognition of the need for balance between the demands of work, family and personal life.

12. Psychological Protection -- A work environment where employees' psychological safety is ensured.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 8, 2012 C1