Where workplace mental health policy goes wrong

I was in a small local chain store last week doing a quick shop. The owner happened to be on the checkout and we started chatting.

We were talking about our days, and he said that he had been in a statewide workplace health and safety meeting. This got us talking about our shared interest in workplace health and safety. An unusual topic to enjoy, I’ll admit, but it’s always nice to find someone else who really cares about it.

I told him I’m a workplace mental health consultant. His first response was “oh yeah, we do that, we have people trained in mental health first aid in every store.”

I paused, considering whether to push further, and in the moment I decided to walk away because he had other customers waiting, and I knew I could go back another day and continue the conversation. But it stayed with me. Even the people with the best intentions and strongest drive for workplace health and safety tend to misunderstand mental health, and therefore develop policies that fail to adequately address it.

Read the full article at The Trauma-informed Leader on Substack.