Earlier this month, I started a Facebook page titled “You Belong Here” as an attempt to destigmatise mental illness in business, and to create awareness around those in the business of improving mental health.
Why is the page necessary?
Our workplaces are where we spend most of our days and for years together at that, and if they don’t take interest in our mental health, who will? Whether we personally deal with mental illness or have colleagues dealing with mental illness, awareness and destigmatisation is key.
Apart from our families, workplaces get seriously affected if we aren’t enjoying good mental health. Professional opportunities and financial stability also get impacted. Think of times when colleagues have taken ill and are not present at work. If one is not even allowed to share details of one’s illness without stigma, how does one heal?
The page aims to be a consolidated repository of information for the mental-health work being done by businesses in association with local non-profit and for-profit organizations to impact employees and local communities.
What does this mean for workplaces?
In some cases, mental-health initiatives are present in one geography and not in others, and it is a good time to think about consistent mental-health policies across the organization. Mental illness does not discriminate and the earlier one receives help, the better. The need to belong is strong in human beings, and stigma prevents people from belonging to their workplaces and communities. It is time to change this.
The page aims to give organizations an insight into what others are doing. It also aims to generate ideas in order to invest in mental health, whether that of employees or local communities.
Take a look at the page given below. Stay mentally healthy. Let’s enable people to belong.