Focus: 'hidden' workplace stress is stretching mental health services

Tuesday 19 September 2017

Mental health specialists are warning 'hidden' workplace stress is pushing up waiting times for treatment because the problem is not being treated at source.

Last year, there were nearly 150 ambulance call-outs for those suffering with a mental health issue, while those waiting to access Talking Therapies have reportedly faced waits of more than six months.

But Gordon Muvuti, the Interim Director of Community Health and Social Services, says that prevention is better than cure, and that employers could be doing more to look after their employees – especially within the high-pressure finance sector - to stop things from getting to that extreme stage.

At present, those suffering from workplace stress account for approximately 5,000 working days lost per year, with an average of 45 days per claim. For the employees, meanwhile, it can mean heart palpitations, hyperventilating, dizziness, poor decision making and even loss of short-term memory.

Mr Muvuti, who holds more than 20 years of experience working in mental health services within the UK, told Express that many workers may not feel comfortable talking to their employers about their mental health status, and that those difficulties may instead manifest themselves in sick days. 

Pictured: Workload, poor relationships with colleagues and organisational changes are all things that can spark workplace stress, according to the States website.

“There’s migraine, back pain, stomach troubles, joint pain - people will put any category in there other than stress. I don’t think we’re anywhere near touching the surface in understanding what other levels of mental health-related stress there are in the work place because people tend to categorise it in that way and therefore we need to make it easier for people to be able to talk about things like that without feeling like it’s going to affect their career. Jersey in particular, there’s a big finance sector here, I can’t imagine it’s the easiest environment to talk about your mental health,” Mr Muvuti explained.

If untreated, what begins as workplace stress can evolve into a more serious mental health difficulty requiring professional help. But Mr Muvuti suggested that problems would not have to get to that stage if employers were more willing to step in and take active responsibility for their workers’ wellbeing before it is too late. He said he was disappointed, however, that so few Jersey businesses seemed to be making an effort to do so.

“We don’t get any employers approaching us and saying, ‘Can we do some work together around how we can manage people’s mental health? What kind of modifications can we make in the work environment? People are getting unwell, what happens when someone does start to get unwell? What can we do in terms of a partnership? Can we pilot new ways of doing things?’” he said.

Nonetheless, Mr Muvuti added that Social Services would be more than willing to help.

Pictured: Mr Muvuti says that he would like to work alongside the finance and office-based industries on employee wellbeing.

“I would love the opportunity to do some work with them to break some of that stigma and make it easier for people to normalise this stuff. No matter what job you’re in, it’s ok to stress sometimes. And if you are going through a difficult time, you should be able to talk about it with the people you’re working with without feeling like you’re going to be judged.”

Such workplace conversations could not only alleviate personal burdens, but that on Health and Social Services, which has previously been criticised for the long length of its mental health waiting lists, by supporting those with problems at an earlier stage. 

Despite some reporting having to wait for Talking Therapies for several months, Mr Muvuti said that benchmarking reports had placed Jersey in a favourable position in comparison to the UK. The difficulty it faces, however, is the inability to pool resources across boroughs as in the UK, meaning that it cannot fully support everyone’s specialist needs. 

“In Jersey you’ve got no one to call on… and I think that poses a challenge to have to try and be everything to everybody so expectations are great but you don’t have the economy of scale… You have to be creative sometimes and it can be challenging sometimes because there’s always going to be somebody that goes without or a category of people that go without.” 

Pictured: Jersey's mental health support services ranked well in comparison to its UK counterparts, Mr Muvuti said.

Nonetheless, he believes that island’s small community allows better links to be made between social care problems and mental health. “I think that’s a real positive that somewhere like Jersey should be trying to capitalise on.”

He added that levels of awareness were also good on the island, and that he welcomes campaigns help shatter stigma surrounding mental health. Nonetheless, he said that he had been disappointed by the recent prevalence of suicide stories within local media, which he felt can "reinforce negative stereotypes."