In the same boat

Recently I went to a conference in London held by Employee Assistance European Forum. The theme of the conference was Resilience, which is of course a hot topic right now. Attendees came from 23 countries from both inside and outside Europe.

In a strange way it was heartening to see that things are tough across the world, and there is a need to be resilient both in work and outside.

What worries me is that this level of relentless pressure and anxiety will become the norm for us all. This has no good outcomes for work, for families and society. The role of mental ill health support will become greater as people buckle.

Is there no hope?

I went to an event today where some eminent advisors were briefing on sickness absence and how to better manage it. The task was set by our government and they have spent a significant amount of time, and I expect money, looking at this difficult issue. It all started very well with statistics, comments on the complexity of benefits, employer and the state. We moved on to discuss the disincentives for employers. Seemed at last this might gat some real traction. In the QA session somebody asked about stigma associated to mental health. To my shock and horror the advisor denied that this existed, insisting that now we are able to talk about stress openly. Clearly they don't understand the range of mental health conditions that are prevalent. That not being bad enough, they went on to admit that they didn't understand the statistic of 1 in 4 people suffering from a mental health condition. It's not the statistic they do not understand but the fact that so many people could actually have mental health problems. Even more staggering they then went on to ask why people can't cope any more, all the talk of resilience these days would appear to be some sort of weakness in people. It seems "pull yourself together" is alive and well.