Mental Health in the Workplace

Taken from Lancet Editorial on November 4^th

Thriving at work: The Stevenson/Farmer review of mental health and employers was released on October 26^th. The report was commissioned by Theresa May after announcing efforts towards transforming mental health support in the UK. The recommendations converge on a set of enhanced mental health care standards  and set out changes where the government can exert influence  including:

• incentives to adopt the standards;
• making statutory sick pay more flexible for mental health; and
• ensuring NHS-provided mental health support is accessible around work.

‘Achieving parity between mental and physical health is too large a task for medics alone It will require creative solutions  to bridge access and bring occupational medicine into the workplace by encouraging open dialogue, prioritising healthy work environments, providing self care toolkits, web and smart phone technology, and wellbeing initiatives that include strong mental health care components. At the fulcrum of improving mental health for workers is the recognition that a workplace can be both a source of stress and a formidable support system’.

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