Since the COVID crisis, issues related to mental health at work have occupied a prominent place in the concerns of polling institutes, consulting firms and within universities.
The establishment of mental health lifeguards
Everyone in their own way is looking for a “truly adapted” approach to solve problems that business leaders could do without. Especially since this “mental health” component has almost become inseparable from work itself. When it comes to stress, conditions that are unfavorable to professional development, loss of meaning at work, inconsistent processes, mistrust, the feeling of premature wear and tear, demotivation, etc., everything, or almost everything, comes back to mental balance. But whose fault is it?
If relief can be found, two associations dedicated to mental health, accompanied by experts on the subject, have come together to create a program for “mental health rescuers” at work. However, we can deplore the lack of training, and especially the total absence of psychological assessment of these rescuers. Although the intervention mandate is limited, the latter are not immune to their own vulnerability, especially since this preventive measure widens the gap between managerial responsibility, once again relegated to others, and the health of employees. But what is the link between mental health first aid and statistics?
Open your eyes wider
Let’s get back to the figures: according to the latest Opinion Way barometer, 1 in 2 employees consider themselves to be in psychological distress, while burnout, depression, suicide attempts and addictive behaviors continue to increase.
What if we opened our eyes wider, really much wider, to go beyond these figures, to understand what they tell us, beyond the first effects of the certain disappointment that they generate?
Are we really aware of our fragilities outside of work? Is it really the fault of employers? Or are we simply stuck in a systemic dysfunction whose nerve center is located elsewhere and only has repercussions on work?
Not asking the question would be to miss a great opportunity to broaden our perspective. But since the question is of little interest, the warnings remain a dead letter and we continue to lightly travel the bypass routes to escape this sinister reality.
The surveys carried out in the context of work completely ignore the state of fragility in which we find ourselves as a suffering society. Our psychological balance is largely attacked well before we are active on a professional level and the figures are only an extension of the psychological distress experienced on a personal level.
When we are able to admit this sad reality, maybe someone will be able to rewrite university programs in management, social work, psychology to prepare for awareness of these facts. Maybe someone will invent a way to live better together or someone else will be able to redraw the priorities in terms of medical approaches to mental health instead of making mental health professionals zombies of assistance who feel overwhelmed and with good reason, no longer having the time to look the vulnerability of others in the eye. When suffering goes unnoticed, it is the time missing from the one who no longer looks that kills what remains of humanity in each of us.
12th barometer of the Empreinte Humaine firm with Opinion Way, November 2023
Prisca Lepine
A Quebecer with an atypical background, first a clinical psychologist in a large health institution, I was quickly struck by the impact of the work climate on behaviors, and, at the same time…
