In 1992 Deputy Secretary Richard Hunter initiated the first global mental health day. He wanted to draw attention to the fact that mental health is often overlooked in the medical system, work & education. In addition to being underfunded; mental health conditions also carried (and still carry) a negative stigma. He believed that by drawing attention to the condition, problems with mental health would be somewhat normalized, which would help people feel less ashamed of having a mental health condition and thereby enable more people to reach out for help if they needed it.

Truth be told most people will experience some form of mental illness during their life time, and while you might say ‘I don’t have a mental illness’ let me explain. There are two ways to experience mental illness in your life. The first is when you are born with a chemical imbalance. This often requires lifestyle changes and sometimes medication depending on the severity- this is the minority. The second is conditional, meaning a person with a normal chemical balance experiences an event in their life (death, divorce, accident, war, pandemic etc. . .. ) that triggers a chemical imbalance usually through stress. This type of mental illness is often temporary if the individual is allowed to find healthy coping mechanisms to accept, adapt and move on.

Often such progress is not possible without taking a break from ones normal routine, dealing with the emotions, talking to a therapist, developing new habits, having a support system and sometimes it just comes down to TIME. Healing cannot be rushed.

So how does one take care of their mental health when they need to maintain their day job and or have kids or other responsibilities that do not allow them to stop? While it is arguably not enough, it is becoming more and more common for employers to offer mental health services in their health plans or cash plans for employees when sh** hits the fence. Free therapy sessions, sick days/ mental health days, and even counselling for addictions or anger management are often covered.

While most stressors tend to be individual experiences, the global pandemic from the past 18 months has created an incubator for mental illness from death, sickness with permanent side-effects, fear, isolation, additional stressors from working/ schooling from home, limited exercise, socializing, outdoor time and the list goes on.

Hopefully if you have suffered mentally from the effects of Covid or other stressors you will use your benefits to get help. If you are an employer and do not have mental health benefits lined up for your employees, please contact us and we can help you sign up for these benefits!