Mental illness can hamper your ability to work to your full potential. You may try to “tough it out” at work and look past your illness’ impact on your mental wellbeing. But, without safe and healthy ways to manage your illness, your mental health can deteriorate. It can even reach a point where your mental illness causes your work performance to suffer.
Don’t wait to seek out help for a mental illness. If you have symptoms commonly associated with mental illnesses, meet with a doctor. From here, you can undergo appropriate testing. Next, your doctor can determine if you are dealing with a mental illness and develop a plan to manage your symptoms.
If you are diagnosed with a mental illness that can affect your ability to work, notify your employer as well. Remember, you need to look after your mental health at work and outside of it. Discussing your mental illness with your employer may seem difficult. However, doing so ensures you and your employer can work together to ensure you can feel and perform your best at work.
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1. Consider Your Mental Health Needs
Many personal situations, including mental health challenges, can affect your performance at work. First and foremost, it’s vital to learn about how your specific condition impacts your work. Then, you can offer insights into possible accommodations your employer can provide to support your mental health needs.
For instance, your chronic pain or depression can cause poor sleep. Without a good night’s rest, you may be more prone than ever before to mistakes at work. Conversely, your employer may be able to offer additional time off based on your chronic pain or depression. That way, you can get sufficient rest to help you manage your mental illness. And when you work, you’ll be well-equipped to perform at peak levels.
Discussing mental health challenges with an employer can be challenging, especially when issues like anxiety or depression lead to introversion or difficulty leaving home. Approach your manager privately and explain how these struggles impact your work, proposing solutions such as remote or hybrid arrangements to balance productivity and well-being. Frame the conversation around mutual benefits, emphasizing how these adjustments support both your performance and job satisfaction.
2. Take Care of Your Mind and Body
Work with your employer to find ways to create and maintain a healthy work-life balance. As part of your efforts, you and your employer should brainstorm solutions to ensure you can properly take care of your mind and body.
Your stress levels can rise during a workday. If left unaddressed, stress can lead to depression, panic attacks, and other emotional problems. Stress can also cause high blood pressure, chest pain, and other physical issues.
The emotional and physical side effects of stress can take their toll on you at work, especially if you have a demanding, stressful, or emotionally challenging role. Fortunately, you can practice self-care by doing things like meditating and taking regular breaks at different points during the workday, which can help you alleviate these issues. If you can keep your stress in check, you can put yourself in a strong position to deliver excellent results at work. Plus, you can move one step closer to establishing a healthy work-life balance that serves you well long into the future.
3. Use Mental Health Days
Ask your employer if mental health days are available. If so, get information about how these days work and how you can use them.
Many companies offer mental health days to help employees break away from the hustle and bustle of work and de-stress. You may be entitled to a certain number of mental health days per calendar year. By using them as needed, you can temporarily step away from your job and focus on what’s important: taking care of yourself.
If your employer does not currently offer mental health days, you should still request time off from work if you are struggling with a mental illness. In these instances, notify your employer accordingly. Give your employer as much notice as you can if you need to take a day off from work due to your mental illness. Keep the lines of communication open with your employer, too. This helps you maintain a positive relationship with your employer until you are ready to return to work.
4. Explore Mental Health Resources and Tools
Find out if your employer offers any mental health resources and tools. Your employer can provide details about various mental health programs available via your company-provided insurance. Also, your employer can offer insights into free resources and tools your business offers to help its workers manage their mental well-being.
Finally, it is important to note that you and your employer share a common goal: to ensure that you feel happy and healthy. Your employer will do everything in its power to help you thrive in your professional and personal lives.
If, for example, you are coping with mental health issues as you transition from one career to the next, your employer can assist. At this time, you and your employer can work together to set boundaries and goals that bolster your mental health at work.
On the other hand, if you are feeling burned out and exhausted at work, your employer can still help. In this scenario, you and your employer can explore ways to adjust your workload and stay on track with assignments and projects going forward.
The bottom line: it can be challenging to bring up your mental illness to your employer, but doing so can be beneficial for you and your business. Discuss your mental illness with your employer, and you can get help as you try to feel and perform great at work.
