Tools to help managers talk about mental health
Occupational psychologist Susannah Robertson-Hart explains how managers can structure conversations around mental health.
The UK Health and Safety Executive management standards for work-related stress focus on the six areas:
- Demands - workload, working patterns and environment
- Control - influence on how an individual does their work
- Support - moral, physical and financial help to complete tasks
- Relationships - positive working, avoiding conflict and unacceptable behaviour
- Role - an understanding of a job role with no conflicting remits
- Change - the management and communication of change
When asking your team how they are doing you can explore whether there are any work related issues that are having an impact on mental health and well-being
– Susannah Robertson-Hart
‘The stress bucket’, is a reflective psychological tool which helps individuals to identify what is causing them stress and what they can do to reduce it.
The stress bucket idea was first coined by Professor Alison Brabban and Dr Douglas Turkington in their 2002 paper.
