Mental Health Days

Unfortunately, mental health is still heavily stigmatised in the workplace however it's time we work together to normalise mental health conversations and the concept of taking mental health days.

Mental health days are taking time off work to provide employees with extra mental bandwidth away from work; intentionally minimising commitments and responsibilities, allowing the employee the opportunity to rest and recharge (or rebuild spoons!). It seems that we often feel more comfortable doing this for a physical injury or condition but are often hesitant or push through when it comes to mental health and invisible disabilities. This needs to change!

Recognising and taking a mental health day proactively may also help alleviate symptoms of mental stress in employees before these begin to spiral and more greatly impact work performance.

Often the biggest hurdle however is ourselves and the pressure and excuses we make to push forward and carry on. We can look at a colleague with a similar workload and think, ‘but they’re fine!’ however that doesn’t mean you have to be too.

Does your workplace proactively encourage and support mental health days? What innovative initiatives have they implemented? I'd love to hear your thoughts by commenting below.

This image was created by SelfCareSpotlight and shared via their Instagram account.