Editor's comment: mental wellbeing and physical health

You may not have experienced a serious mental illness yourself, but you will have known what it feels like to be demoralised by insensitive comments from a colleague, angry at a manager who shows little interest in your work or had a sleepless night before a difficult appraisal. 

 

Tom (not his real name) is a physiotherapist with bipolar disorder, a condition that, if untreated, can have a devastating impact. It certainly did for Tom, though he’s now recovering and back in work. He is full of praise for the support he received from his local CSP officer, without which he feels his life could have completely unravelled. Tom wanted to share his story in the hope that other CSP members wouldn’t have his negative experiences at work, such as being cold shouldered by other members of staff.  

 

While we can’t mollycoddle our colleagues and shield them from all negative feedback, we must respect one another’s skills and value what a person brings to the workplace – irrespective of their background, gender, ethnic origin or disability.

 

Mental Health Awareness Week, which this year has relationships as its theme, starts on 16 May.  

 

The CSP is developing a campaign to highlight the importance of having a supportive workplace. In the meantime, check out ‘Creating mentally healthy workplaces’, a report by the campaign Time to Change.