“Spring 2011”
The last workplace taboo?
Dear member, colleague or supporter,
It might be the better weather that has improved my mood – increasingly I think I am prone to seasonal cycles -but I do think there are reasons for optimism. Catherine Zeta-Jones needn’t have disclosed her recent treatment for bipolar disorder – the fact that an A-lister married into Hollywood royalty is prepared to come forward is very significant in helping to change attitudes.
What impresses me too is that when we have been doing line-manager training at a FTSE-100 company over recent weeks, we have had about one in every five or six participants openly disclosing their experiences of mental distress and how this was managed at work. Empowered I am sure by hearing our trainers’ experiences, the quality of the discussion is hugely enhanced by this kind of participation and it is just remarkable I think that people will open up and feel able to discuss their mental health in a no-nonsense, professional and normalising way at work. Once you scratch the surface the elephant in the room can be recognised as a major business issue that needs to be addressed.
Of course there is still great injustice: lack of resources, concerns over benefits and services being cut, but I am convinced that there are plenty of signs of a tipping-point in society. Change will have to follow rapidly once mental health becomes a mainstream political and social issue – the case for fair treatment will be compelling. To take an organisational example, not only has our pilot been successful and the training is now being rolled out to every line manager in their business as part of a wellbeing initiative, but we are having discussions about how to embed the material into the DNA of the organisation: making managing emotional wellbeing at work a module of what the organisation regards as the “Essentials of Management” training.
Once the penny drops, mental health has to be taken seriously because the business case is so clear. Increasingly, though because their employees demand it – initiatives have started recently at Deloitte, KPMG and Citi recently people have come forward to speak openly and take a stand about their mental health – then the spell of this taboo can be overcome. Perhaps you would like to get in touch with us about introducing change in the organisation where you work?
If you are a service-user with experience of training and are interested in joining our team of consultant trainers please send us your details and a cv as we are planning to train a new cohort of trainers in the summer.
Help us with peer support workshops
New Employment and Recovery workshops starting May 10th
Recovery is a unique and individual experience and while no two people’s recovery journeys will be identical, there may be common themes and experiences, in particular our relationship to employment or other work-orientated activities.
Following on from the success of the pilot that we ran last year a series of 8 free workshops will be held every two weeks from Tuesday 10 May at 7.00pm at the Stand to Reason offices at 89 Albert Embankment. Full details are on the Eventbrite site. Book your places now link
The workshops are about being able to live a meaningful and satisfying life, as defined by each person, in the presence or absence of symptoms. It is about having control over and input into your own life, and well-supported and meaningful employment can be major source of meaning and support, and financial independence. Each individual’s recovery, like his or her experience of the mental health problems or illness, is a unique and deeply personal process.
The workshops cover:
Introduction to Employment and Recovery
Choice in treatments – drugs, talking therapies, peer-support and alternative therapies
Best practice at work
Stigma and finding one’s voice – Reframing illness within one’s life
Supportive employment – Stories of success from the workplace and your relationship with your boss
Creating a strong support network
Legal rights and disclosure at work
Moving on and doing it for yourself
William’s story
“Isolated, confused, vulnerable, guilty for having mental health problems – Yes – that’s how I felt before I attended a Stand to Reason Recovery and Employment workshop last year. To be with other Mental Health sufferers in a context of self-help and complete confidentiality, has really helped me to look towards the future with more confidence and hope. Sharing experiences and views and being given practical advice on a whole range of issues, including work place rights and responsibilities, was really useful and has certainly helped me on my road to recovery. Go for it! What have you got to lose?”
MPs mental health
On 2 February 2011, almost exactly three years after the former Norwegian Prime Minister Bondevik joined us at the launch of Stand to Reason with our campaign to remove symbolic mental health stigma in the House of Commons, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced that the law would be changing.
“Today we are announcing that we are repealing an old-fashioned outdated law which means that MPs at the moment are disqualified from being MPs if they have a mental health problem which goes on for more than six months”. He indicated that Section 141 of the Mental Health Act would be removed through primary legislation as soon as possible because of the government’s determination to root out stigma.
This excellent news comes after a series of campaigning steps in collaboration with Mind, Rethink and the Royal College of Psychiatrists with all party support from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health. Stand to Reason has highlighted the issues with two features shown on BBC2’s Newsnight and the publication with the support of this coalition of the report into MPs mental health which showed that like any other group professionals they were not immune from mental illness – one in five MPs had themselves experienced mental distress, which made a nonsense of the common law ban on becoming an MP if you have ever been mentally ill. Our report also called for an Election Compact banning MPs and candidates from using stigmatising language which was signed up to by the party leaders on behalf of their parties shortly before the election last year only for Nick Clegg himself to make a public apology to Stand to Reason for describing the coalition of Conservatives in the European Parliament as a “bunch of nutters” in the first televised Prime Ministerial debates.
Despite the progress more work needs to be done! We need to make sure the common law ban on becoming an MP is dealt with at the same time and notwithstanding the symbolic value of MPs in Parliament, this is just one of a series of discriminating provisions that still exist. Company directors – both public and private; partnership deeds; magistrates, jurors; and insolvency practitioners are all subject to restrictions that do not apply to people with physical disabilities, conditions or impairments. Wouldn’t it be extraordinary if we had provisions so a director with a physical impairment could be removed without the right to come back when they recovered?