Culture, Mental Health Blog, Tips, Wellbeing, Wellness

Supporting the Mental Health of Your Team

August 23, 2024

Supporting Your Team

As a manager you already know how important it is to make the most of each team member’s strengths and help them out with areas where they struggle. A big part of looking after your team is to learn some basics about mental health, and some practical tips for what you can do to support someone with a mental health challenge. You might be surprised at how supporting someone’s mental health in the workplace can be through small but important actions. Being a trusted person who listens without judgement, and who knows what help is available and how a person who is struggling can access it, is likely to be the game changer that someone who is struggling needs. Read on to find a bit more about what you are, and aren’t, expected to do as a manager to support your team’s mental health.

What you’re not expected to do

This may seem a strange place to start, but it’s often helpful for managers to know what they aren’t expected to do when someone in their team is having a hard time with their mental health. Sometimes managers can feel like they have to take on their team member’s problem and solve it for them. Good-hearted, but this approach can sometimes result in some misguided stumbles, or getting burnt out yourself.

So, here’s what you’re NOT expected to do as a manager when your team member is struggling with mental health:

• Be their counsellor – that’s the counsellor’s job, and your workplace has highly skilled EAP counsellors on hand and available over the phone or Zoom on the Foremind platform.
• Fix it – mental health challenges are gnarly, and it’s usually lots of small changes that get a person away from a bad place and into a good one. These changes have to come from that person, though, rather than from outside. Your job is to support and encourage, rather than fix.
• Overstep boundaries – you are not expected to take your team member to appointments, loan them money, excuse unethical conduct or poor behaviour in the workplace, or do things that you wouldn’t normally do for a team member. It’s hard when someone is struggling and might be asking for your help in ways that step outside of your role as a manager, or for leniency when they’ve really stuffed things up. But you need to keep your boundaries in the right spot.
• Put yourself in emotional danger – 1 in 4 Australians will have a mental health challenge in their lifetimes, which means that there’s good odds you yourself, or someone you love, has had a mental health challenge. Dealing with a team member who is struggling can bring up some difficult stuff for you: and if it does, you have every right to call in some reinforcements and get help of your own if dealing with your team member is putting you in emotional danger. Put your own oxygen mask on first!

Some things you can do as a manager

So now we’ve established that you’re not someone’s counsellor, you’re not responsible for fixing it, you don’t have to overstep your professional boundaries, and you don’t have to put yourself in harm’s way to help your team member.

Glad we’ve cleared that up. So what can you do?

• Notice changes and if they’re sticking around, ask (discreetly) – a good rule of thumb is if you notice your team member isn’t themselves, and they stay that way for two weeks, take them somewhere private (or give them a call or a text) and ask if they’re ok. Everybody has an off day or week, but if you notice changes that stick around, ask.
• Listen without judgement – you’re definitely not their counsellor, but you can listen to try and understand, and not judge. You don’t have to say much at all – resist the urge to offer solutions and opinions, and just listen.
• Know where to go – arm yourself with knowledge of who and what’s available to help your team member. A good starting point is an EAP like Foremind – free, confidential counselling that can be accessed via phone or Zoom – or if counselling isn’t something your team member feels ready for, you can direct them to some of the Foremind resources in the app to help them get a bit of a handle on what they can do to help themselves. Encouraging your team member to book a GP check up is also a good idea too – GP’s can be a really important mental health support, and are also able to help with physical conditions that affect our mental health.
• Keep it private – some people are happy to be very open about their mental health challenges, while others prefer to keep things private. There’s still a bit of stigma around mental illness, so always keep things private in your role as manager and, if the person wants to share, let them do so on their own terms. This will encourage others in your team to trust you and know that you’re a safe person to talk to. If you feel like you need to disclose something – for example you’re worried about your team member’s safety – talk to them about it first if possible. They are in charge of their life, and the more control you give to them the better.
• Connect with HR – while keeping things private, speak with your organisation’s HR team to work out what can be done to support someone through a challenging time, for example accessing leave, a graduated return to work plan, or a change of work duties to help someone over a hump. Or better yet, support your team member to talk to HR with you there to back them up. Sometimes people might be hesitant to speak to HR on their own, but if they trust you and they’ve got you in their corner, it can feel easier.

Looking after yourself

It’s understandable you might be feeling a bit drained, worried, stressed, or burdened by what you’ve heard, especially if it brings up some issues you or a loved one has faced. Do all the things you normally do to look after yourself – down time, sleep, looking after your body with good food and movement, connecting with the people who are most important to you. And if you notice that you’re carrying a heavy weight around with you, book in for an EAP session to debrief: counsellors can do 2-4 sessions with you to let you get things off your chest and better understand how you can look after yourself. It’s free, convenient and confidential.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Louise is the Clinical Director at Foremind, with over a decade of experience in the mental health sector, contributing to well-known Australian organizations like Beyond Blue, Lifeline, Headspace, and LivingWorks.

Louise Thompson Clinical Director

How Foremind Supports Businesses

At Foremind, our aim is to enable organisations to support the Mental Health of their employees and utilise a proactive approach to Psychosocial Hazard management.

Our tailored psychosocial safety screening tool addresses gaps in existing tools and considers the unique challenges and risks associated with workplaces in the industry.

The emphasis on an integrated approach involving supporting worker wellbeing while managing a psychological safety climate underscores our commitment to preventing psychological injuries and improving workplace culture.

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Help is always available

Here are some useful resources for more help – for you and for your team:

• Lifeline – 13 11 14 and https://www.lifeline.org.au/ – offers fee, confidential, 24/7 telephone crisis support and lots of info and resources on their website
• Beyond Blue – https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ – info and support about mental health and suicide prevention
• Heads Up – https://www.headsup.org.au/ – the part of Beyond Blue that is specially developed for mental health in the workplace

This post has discussed challenging topics, which can be confronting for particular readers. If you need support, please feel free to contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 000 if you need immediate help to stay safe.

Find out more about how Foremind is making access to mental health mainstream for workers and supporting companies manage their Psychosocial Hazard compliance!

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