The average adult spends up to half of their waking hours at work. With this is mind, the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Psychologists is calling for a mandate that all workplaces implement mental health policies. Rynessa Cutting tells us more in our Health Watch.
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00:14The Trinidad and Tobago Association of Psychologists says the average adult spends at least one-third to half of their waking hours at work.
00:23And many people bring mental health issues to work with them or even face mental health challenges at the workplace.
00:32In the workplace we see burnout, we see stress, so those are mental health problems, not necessarily diagnoses.
00:39But we also see lots of anxiety and the culmination of all these things when your mental health is challenged by your workplace or your workplace is unhealthy,
00:49it's oftentimes mood disorders, so you find that people might be irritable, either fatigued a lot or they're not sleeping well enough.
00:59They may not perform well in their teams or perform well overall.
01:03It's an avalanche that we're not recognizing.
01:06We're like the boil frog syndrome, we're just there and it's getting hotter and hotter and hotter.
01:10We say we can deal with this man, we'll be fine, but maybe we won't.
01:13Ms. McFarlane says it is imperative that employers take proactive measures to treat with mental health in the workplace.
01:21And she believes the government should take the lead.
01:25I do think it should be something that's mandated like a national policy and then the organizations have their policies that align with what's mandated by the national policy.
01:36For employers, if you want to meet your bottom line and you want to achieve your goals or your KPIs, you need to have productive staff to do that.
01:47And if your staff are not productive, they're not happy, the morale is low, they keep leaving, so you keep having to train new people.
01:55These sorts of things cost more.
01:58McFarlane says as part of the policy, it is important that management and staff know how to identify and treat with these issues.
02:08It could be the difference between life and death, right?
02:11But this brings me back to management needs to know how to handle this and staff as well.
02:18So a lot of companies now are doing mental health training and mental health awareness workshops for their staff so that you know your own mental health first aid.
02:29You're your own first responder if a colleague comes to you, if you notice something.
02:34All things considered, she says, an extra day of rest can go a long way.
02:39Is the association in support of a four-day mood week?
02:43Well, that is not a discussion necessarily that we've had as a whole, so there's not a reliable statement that I can make on that.
02:57But I certainly am because I just advocated for more rest, right?
03:04So quality rest.
03:06And so I think it would be helpful.
03:09Mental health resources can be found online at findcarettt.com and T-TAP's website.
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