Mental Health Awareness for Leaders

Managing individuals who may be struggling with stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health concerns can be a difficult balancing act. Your role is to manage performance and to bring out the best in your workforce, but accomplishing this often requires you to express concern and support when employees struggle
emotionally. Managers often feel uncomfortable in this aspect of their role and may lack the important skills of“emotional management.” This course covers ways employees may present their distress and offers insights and strategies on forging supportive empathic alliances within the role of manager. The session also identifies common mistakes managers make in responding to employees in distress and explains communication skills that express support and convey positive expectancy. Participants are also given information on how to refer employees to the Employee Assistance Program.

By the end of this workshop, you will:
• Understand the universality of mental health issues in the workplace
• Recognize the most common symptoms of mental illness
• Identify the most common unhelpful reactions to symptoms, why they occur and how to avoid them
• Identify ways of expressing compassion and developing an alliance with distressed employees
• Reduce the stigma associated mental illness and promote ways of supporting one another in the workplace
• Recognize the warning signs of suicide
• Identify support services and resources for all leaders and employees