World Mental Health Day: listening to build healthier work environments
Every October 10, World Mental Health Day reminds us that taking care of emotional well-being is a responsibility that goes far beyond individual care. It also involves creating environments in which people can express themselves, be heard and participate in decisions that affect their health and well-being.
This year, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposes in its motto that“Let's listen to people with lived experience: real voices, real change,” thus focusing on a particularly relevant idea: listening should not only be about collecting testimonies, but rather the experience of those who have experienced these situations should contribute to designing and improving the policies, services and decisions that affect them. In short, to take more and better care.
From listening to acting
Transferred to the workplace, this approach invites us to look at mental health from a broader perspective. Organizations may have protocols, prevention tools or indicators on psychosocial risks, but they also need to know how situations that can affect emotional well-being are actually experienced.
Stress, overload, lack of disconnection, difficulties with work-life balance or unhealthy work relationships can have a significant impact on mental health. Therefore, moving towards healthy work environments requires identifying risk factors, but also creating spaces for listening and participation that allow us to understand people's real needs.
Therefore, in this context, on October 21, the alliance of Mutuas +Compromiso, made up of Asepeyo,“From stress to emotional well-being: practical keys for healthy teams” which will bring together professionals from the field of mental health, prevention and business to address one of the great current challenges of organizations: how to move from preventing work stress to environments that actively promote emotional well-being.
The meeting will feature the participation of specialists both from the field of occupational risk prevention and from the business environment, around two round tables.
The opening of the event will be carried out by Olga Merino, general director of Avanta Mental Health and member of the Official College of Psychology of Madrid, while Marina Parra, general director of Labor of the Community of Madrid and manager of the Regional Institute of Safety and Health at Work will be the one who closes the meeting.
Because talking about mental health is also talking about prevention, a preventive culture and organizations capable of listening and caring, the previous step to converting them into changes that improve people's well-being.
