Embracing Mental Health - The Benefits of Workplace Policies | Placi Espejo | TEDxBanbury

Over 100 billion. Five in a classroom. One in four. All these figures represent elements of mental health issues in the UK. The Office of National Statistics revealed 17.5 million days of work were lost to poor mental health between 2018 and 2019. Similarly, the UK Government Health and Safety Executive estimated 32.6 million days lost to work-related ill health between 2019 and 2020. How many of us here know the number of the most common mental health categories? There are over 30 identified by Mind UK. Schizophrenia, trauma, body dysmorphia, depression. Some of these categories are not experienced in isolation by the sufferer, but work together in combination creating a paradoxical synergy and with such a negative impact. Of all the mental health illnesses, eating disorders is the one that claims the most lives. According to Beat UK, 62% of eating disorders are established before the age of 16 and the length of suffering is anything between one and in excess of five years. Most individuals who experience a mental health illness suffer in silence and shroud themselves in a life of secrecy. But how can we help and how can we recognise when someone is suffering in silence? What are the symptoms? How can we reach out? To accept help is regarded as one of the biggest hurdles for anyone experiencing a mental health illness. First of all is learning to recognise the signs, both by the observer and the sufferer. Medicinet identified five warning signs to mental illness which can be key and we might unwittingly see as a subtle behaviour changing, sometimes recognised in ourselves or in others, our friends, our family, our work colleagues. By working synergistically together in a positive manner, we can all work to recognise the elements that form the shroud of silence. Here are four individuals. All of them have Maria in their names. All of them have been friends since school. One of these wonderful Marias is suffering in silence and hiding behind a shroud. She went from being a happy child to a miserable teenager with no self-belief and low self-esteem which materialised in a 10-year more or less eating disorder. Years of coping with overwhelming emotions, not being able to control periods of binge and comfort eating. Anything that was sweet or easy to get to. The truth is that she had no self-control, especially when it came to chocolate. It kind of was a kryptonite. At the time that Maria had bulimia, it was and is still very much regarded as a coping mechanism for other issues. Maria finally accepted help from a friend who approached her when she realised what she was doing to herself. The recovery took over a year of cognitive behavioural therapy, combined with a lot of practice of self-belief, educating herself in nutrition, healthy eating habits, together with the support of her friends to get over this first mental health obstacle in her life. Most sufferers don't know what they're doing to their body until a few years later. Professor Janet Treasurer and esteemed colleagues outline in a seminar in The Lancet not only the six main eating disorders by diagnostics, but most importantly the consequences of eating disorders for the physical health are severe, with negative effects to the cardiovascular, endocrine and gastrointestinal systems. At one point Maria thought she wouldn't be able to conceive. She had alopecia, her immune system weakened. She suffered from an agonising pain from an irritable bowel syndrome, which at one point washed out all the iron in her body, having to have injections to get over a very debilitating period in her life. Seven years passed and Maria's life seemed to be going extremely well, until the moment her marriage broke down. This is the time that she refers to as a temporary loss of her soul and becoming the shadow of the person she was always meant to be. This time the hurdle was higher, mainly because she thought that part of her life was behind her. It's not very common that a wake up in the morning and say, I'm depressed, I am going to schedule having a panic attack. This time it became worse. She became an introvert, she wasn't socialised and she cried constantly. Work, savagery. She will start crying on the way to a meeting and hiding the toilet until the As she thought, if anyone found out that she was struggling with her mental health, they will think of her as weak, unproductive and not coping in the work environment. She got used to putting on a brave face, pretending everything was okay. She was too embarrassed to admit that sometimes she will start having a panic attack whilst driving or find herself rocking in the garden in the middle of the night. Sadly and heartbreakingly, she thought she was a problem and the solution was for her not to be alive anymore. But then she thought of her son and the legacy she wanted him to have of his mother. Weeks passed and one day Maria went to doctors with a bad tummy and came up with a referral to talking spaces. Maria broke down in front of the GP, who in fact never knew that she was one of the main actors and catalysts on her healing process. Counselling followed, combined with taking antidepressants, which can create guilt and shame, but for some is essential in the healing process. The other main players in the journey to Maria's recovery were her friends. Those friends who were there to listen, didn't judge and supported her unconditionally. They became her life saviours, Maria's angels. Then Maria sought help and she thought she was cured, although the best word to cure is manage. Let's be honest, managing. Can anyone guess who that Maria was? That Maria was me, is me. For you to understand, let me just show you how you will see me externally. But the sad, invisible truth is that this is how I still see myself sometimes. And yes, this is only visible to a few. Just by chance, I joined a self-defence group, because let's face it, I was scared of my own shadow. Fast forward seven years later, and I took my brown and white stripe belt in karate. And it was at that time, when I got home, that night that I realised that the same that I had been conditioning my body to take the hits in sparring, I had been conditioning my mind to get through all my mental struggle throughout the years. With my support forces, medical staff and angels, I had been working for years subconsciously in my own mental health toolbox, making sure that every day I have a reason to wake up in the morning. Turning negatives into positives. Silencing that critical inner voice. Learning to know the signs of when I have a bad mental health day. Embracing all emotions of anger, frustration, sadness. Letting those check in and equally letting them check out again. But most importantly, letting others in. Not being ashamed anymore, not hiding away and not feeling guilty for having an anxious moment or feeling or thinking less of myself for having a bad mental health day. And living loads of post-it notes with positive affirmations around the house. You will not believe the stick that I get from my friends for my love of post-it notes. Creating a mental health toolbox can help create the first step to managing. Looking back after my marriage broke down, I finished therapy, I stopped taking medication and I still have moments of self-doubt or the urge to cry uncontrollably. And yes, that's still only visible to a few. Over a hundred billion. Five in a classroom. One in four. Most of us will spend years suffering in silence, feeling that this is the way it has to be. A commission report by Mental Health Foundation Scotland established that 46 people felt that they will be harassed in the work environment. 41 felt ashamed to admit to a mental struggle. 21 alluded to the lack of guidance and support in the workplace. And 4% thought they will be unable to carry on with the job duties due to contractual arrangements. Fortunately, nationally, things are changing. And mental health is beginning to not be a taboo anymore. Whilst a government commission report in 2017, the Stephen Farmer Review, sets out core standards that even the most smallest of employers can implement to support the mental health of their employees. The most recent government commission report in 2020 by Deloitte highlights the benefits afforded to companies who support their employees with the On average, for one pound that employers spend supporting their employees' mental health, the return is five pounds in investment in terms of lack of absenteeism, staff turnover, and increased productivity. So, with this in mind, and a very small portion of my work in my professional hat on, I look forward to mental health policies being embraced and valued in the work environment, with training and development of best practices to not only employers and individual benefit, but also society, productivity, and ultimately, the economy. Thank you.