OH urged to lead on three-tier approach to mental health support

Occupational health practitioners are well-equipped to lead interventions at three different levels to help organisations better support employees struggling with mental ill health, a report has argued.

The report from SOM and the CIPD has encouraged OH to work with HR on more effective interventions to support employees and colleagues in managing their mental health.

Written by Dr Kevin Teoh, from Birkbeck, University of London, the report, The Value of Occupational Health and Human Resources in supporting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, provides guidance on how to better manage workplace mental health and wellbeing.

It offers information on how to design programmes and interventions for organisations. Critically, it highlights how, by working together, HR and occupational health can better support employees with their mental health and wellbeing.

Within this, the report reiterates the need to approach the management of mental health and wellbeing via three different levels of intervention: primary, secondary, and tertiary.

Primary-level interventions (essentially prevention) work to identify root causes of mental health. These can include ensuring workload is manageable, adequate support is available, leadership is compassionate, inclusive, and ethical.

Training managers to support the wellbeing of their staff and encourage employees to seek help is also deemed to be a primary-level intervention.

By contrast, secondary-level interventions (or support) are all about improving people’s ability to cope with challenging aspects of their roles.

Effective strategies in this context include helping staff to maintain a healthy balance between their work and personal life, the report recommends.

Finally, tertiary-level interventions (or rehabilitation) focus on treatment and encourage a safe and healthy return to work.

“Occupational health, the specialist and expert field of health and wellbeing at work, is a crucial part of the solution,” the report emphasises.

Dr Teoh, senior Lecturer and programme director of the MSc in organisational psychology at Birkbeck, said: “As more and more organisations recognise the importance of supporting staff mental health and wellbeing it is vital that action here is underpinned by evidence-based practice. In doing so, we need to not only recognise the opportunities and expertise available, but also the limits of one’s competence and abilities.”

SOM president Dr Lanre Ogunyemi added: “This report provides clear evidence-based actions to tackle mental health issues experienced in the workplace. The UK is in a fortunate position, with specially trained occupational health professionals, but more investment is needed to expand this workforce.”