People’s lives outside of work are individual and complex, with many factors that can negatively affect their overall mental health and wellbeing. You should consider the holistic picture of your workers’ lives and how these interact with their work life.
Factors
There is an infinite number of things that might affect people’s mental health and wellbeing. Each individual can also have a different reaction to the same set of circumstances.
However, some common factors that can affect people’s mental health and wellbeing might include:
- caring responsibilities
- poverty and debt
- addictions
- housing issues
- relationship breakdown
- bereavement
"Moving away from a medical model of mental health would allow a new narrative to emerge, that doesn't hold the individual as the problem, but that considers the environmental and life experiences that allows a person to make sense of the distress they are experiencing."
- 2021 survey respondent
There are many free national and local services that can help people struggling with these kinds of issues.
Stigma and discrimination
If your workers are facing stigma or discrimination, within or outside of the workplace, this can also have a significant impact on their mental health and wellbeing.
You should make sure your mental health and wellbeing policy considers the intersection between stigma and discrimination at work and mental health and wellbeing.
Having an open, inclusive environment where everyone knows stigma and discrimination are not tolerated will help promote positive mental health.
"Acknowledgement that this is a health issue the same as any other physical issue - by speaking about it, making it visible in the workplace removes stigma and will help people open up. Also if there are Managers etc who are willing to speak about their experiences this can help."
- 2021 survey respondent
Individual support
The advice and support you give will depend on the individual set of circumstances, and might involve different internal and/or external routes.
