5 Ways to talk to your manager about your mental health by Chris Parsons

Mental ill-health is the biggest cause of disability in the workplace today, bar none. By 2030, the World Health Organisation states that depression alone will be the biggest cause of disability in the workplace. Mental ill-health can be terrible and can be fatal. The key challenge, of course, is that it goes largely unseen and can carry a heavy stigma.

However, I prefer to turn the debate around and look to find ways to help people thrive in the workplace. There is a danger that the conversations turn downwards, filled with worry and concern, and we need to find ways to make the conversation as uplifting as possible.

Alastair Campbell, former journalist turned mental health adviser, likes to remind people that we all have ‘mental health’ just like we all have ‘physical health’ and asks how can we find ways to work towards the positive end of each spectrum?

These are my 5 recommendations for managing your mental health in the workplace and, specifically, talking to your manager to gain their support.

1.Identify what you require to enable you to thrive in the workplace

I think it is helpful if everyone can talk to their boss about what is important to them, what makes them thrive. For some it will be daily exercise, for others an ability to leave the office early on certain days for caring obligations, for yet others an ability to observe faith beliefs.

However, it is also important to remember that a career in law is a tough and demanding profession and one that is well paid, and that comes with responsibility and obligations.

If organisations and individuals can find ways of working with these issues, then mental ill-health may become less common in the first place.

2.Choose what information you want to disclose

Disclosing mental health issues is always a choice, and the individual will need to see a benefit in doing so. Equally, the level of disclosure is a choice i.e., how much information you wish to share.
Some people may have suffered childhood trauma (either physical or emotional) and may not wish to share this. And you don’t have to; it may only be necessary to disclose the current symptoms, e.g., in certain social gatherings, I experience high levels of anxiety and I am getting help for that. For the time being pleased can I be excused from xyz tasks.

Alternatively, it may only be necessary to say that you are sleeping very badly at the moment, for which you are getting help, and to ask for understanding that completing your work may take longer at the moment.

3.Take responsibility for identifying the support you require in the workplace

Mental ill heath can be highly complicated and highly individual hence suggesting a generic answer to broad questions around what support is required is unlikely to be helpful. In addition, managers are not experts in mental ill health and cannot be expected to know what support you will require in the workplace.

It is therefore the responsibility of the individual to indicate what they would find most helpful by way of adjustment. They may be able to do this in conjunction with HR or their therapist or their GP.

4.Develop your own coping mechanisms

Along with the support that your employer provides, I strongly suggest that individuals develop their own coping mechanisms. I have had to learn lots. Two of my most important ones are exercise and getting a decent night’s sleep. However, we are all different and these will therefore be different for everyone. Take time to work out what works for you and be ruthless in ensuring you use these.

5.Take control of your workload

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Epidemiology at University College London, Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, researched social determinants of health among British Civil Servants. His studies found that despite people in more senior roles having more responsibility, and consequently more stress, almost without exception those in more junior positions struggled more with their mental health. The reasoning behind this is that although people in senior roles have greater responsibility in the workplace, they also have more control.

Managers must therefore enable their teams to find their own ways to deliver their work within the parameters of expectations. And individuals must ask for autonomy in how they do it; they must be able to control how they do their work rather than being told what to do, how to do it, and in what time limits.

Chris Parsons is Chairman, India Practice and Mental Wellbeing Champion at Herbert Smith Freehills.