
World Mental Health Day 2024: How can we prioritise mental health in the workplace?
Reflections on this year’s theme of workplace mental health.
World Mental Health Day 2024 is celebrated every year on 10 October, and this year’s theme, set by the World Federation of Mental Health is: “It’s time to prioritise mental health in the workplace”. The topic highlights the importance of championing mental health and wellbeing at work, for the mutual benefit of people, organisations, and communities.
To explore this theme in more depth, we have drawn on the expertise of colleagues from across The Tavistock and Portman to gather responses to the question: “How can we prioritise mental health in the workplace?”
Dr Louise Grant
Course lead, Advanced practice and research: social work and social care (D55)
“Social work and associated professions are jobs which, whilst rewarding, can also be emotionally demanding and stressful. Social workers often work with people at times of acute personal difficulty, when their families may be experiencing a crisis, and a child or adult may be at risk of harm. They do this under public and press scrutiny and often with challenging work pressures due to staff shortages. Managing the complex human emotions that arise in the work is a key element of the social work task and requires social workers to operate with reflexivity, kindness and compassion. Individual personal resilience is essential to support effective coping in this stressful role. Nonetheless, however personally resilient someone is, they will not be able to thrive at work if the organisational culture is not one which prioritises a psychologically safe working environment.
Organisational systems, reflected in supportive, compassionate cultures and practices, are crucial for social workers to deliver high-quality work. Social workers need an understanding of the societal pressures and the emotional demands of the work, which can only be achieved through opportunities for effective supervision, peer support and caseloads which are realistic and manageable. Compassionate inclusive organisational, leadership, and team support is needed to help social workers manage workloads effectively, allowing them to flourish and deliver high-quality work.
For more information as to how these conditions can be assessed, monitored and supported in social work and associated professions, access the Social Work Organisational Resilience Diagnostic.”
Dr Nick Waggett
Course lead, Advanced practice and research: consultation and the organisation (D10D)
“Mental health is sometimes thought of as what people bring with them into the workplace. As a result, support mechanisms such as counselling, yoga and time-out of work, are orientated to the individual and their difficulties. However, for many, it is the workplace itself which is the source or aggravator of their stress and poor mental health. Many jobs are, by their very nature, high pressure and stressful, whether this is in high-stakes commercial firms or public services working with distressed and ill people. This may be unavoidable, but it doesn’t mean that steps can’t be taken to support the people in these roles and mitigate against the work leading to illness, burnout and high staff turnover – none of which are in the interests of either the individual or the organisation. Instead of workplace mental health being individualised as a personal problem, it needs to be addressed systemically as an organisational problem. This means looking at the causes of difficulties and ensuring that the task of addressing them is the responsibility of managers and leaders at all levels – not simply located in the role of one individual ‘mental health lead’.”
Shantel Thomas
Professional lead for social work and course lead, Social work (M23)
“Prioritising mental health in the workplace must be rooted in an anti-racist and intersectional approach. As the professional lead for social work at our Trust, I recognise that mental health challenges are often exacerbated by systemic inequalities, including racism and other forms of discrimination. We cannot effectively support mental well-being without addressing the structural barriers that marginalised groups face daily.
To truly prioritise mental health, we must create spaces where individuals from all backgrounds feel safe, respected, and included. This means acknowledging how racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of oppression intersect to compound stress and mental health struggles for employees, particularly those from marginalised communities. Anti-racist leadership is about recognising these disparities and actively working to dismantle them through inclusive policies, equitable workloads, and targeted support.
We must provide mental health resources that are culturally competent, trauma-informed, and reflective of the diverse needs of our workforce. This includes offering specific support for employees from racialised and minoritised backgrounds and ensuring that conversations about mental health always include a critical lens on race, power, and privilege. By integrating anti-racism and intersectionality into our mental health strategies, we create a workplace where everyone can thrive, regardless of their identity.”
Claire Shaw
Consultant nurse & nursing training development lead
“From recent experience in delivering training and attending conferences, the majority of the nursing workforce do not have access to reflective practice or even reflective clinical supervision. This means that people are working with patients who may have experienced the trauma of their illnesses (and sometimes the trauma of physical treatments), without having a space at work to reflect on their experiences or to understand the impact of their work upon them. There is an inherent emotional impact in this work as well as the impact of working in organisations under pressure. I think that we have a role to play in offering support both through training and the provision of reflective spaces and clinical supervision – offering both the structure and the concepts to support individuals and teams. I think there is a slight shift towards attending to mental health in the workplace (largely due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic) and it is timely that we utilise the evidence that is already out there to explore what is needed to maintain people’s mental wellbeing at work.”
The People Team
Members of the People Team at The Tavistock and Portman
“As people professionals, there are several initiatives that we can promote, in order to encourage and support managers to put wellbeing at the forefront in the workplace. Some of these measures include: encouraging managers to have wellbeing conversations with their staff; educating managers about the importance of psychological safety in teams; and supporting managers with navigating difficult situations such as complex change programmes. It is also important to create spaces to have honest, transparent communication – even if it is difficult – so that staff always feel able to discuss their concerns, within a safe and supportive work environment.
We also recognise the wide range of issues that can impact on our colleagues’ mental health – not just directly associated with the workplace, but also things that may happen in their personal life, such as financial worries, relationship stress or bereavement. It is therefore important to have resources available which can support across multiple areas, such as our CareFirst programme or Mental Health First Aiders.
With the right strategies and initiatives in place, we can prioritise mental health and wellbeing as being fundamental to all aspects of our organisation, and contribute to a healthier and happier workforce overall.”
You can learn more about the history of World Mental Health Day via our short article.
Intrigued? Learn more
At the Tavistock and Portman, we have been at the forefront of exploring mental health and wellbeing for over a century. Today, our wide-ranging education and training programme supports participants to make a real difference through their work with individuals, families, groups and organisations. To learn more, download our prospectus or browse our courses.