Supporting positive mental health in the workplace is an exciting and important area of research and practice. A recent international conference on this topic highlighted 3 key components, which are:

1. Reduction of work-related risk factors for problems in mental health (e.g., bullying, job insecurity, long hours, poor safety at work);

2. Promotion of how workers can gain self-esteem from their work; and

3. Addressing existing mental health issues of workers, regardless of whether the cause is related to work.

Workplace mental health

Another important finding reported at the conference was the the most effective job-search interventions included a combination of skill development (resume creation, networking, and interview presentation) and enhancement of motivation (e.g., realistic goal-setting, sharing info with peers, and cognitive techniques to change negative self-talk into positive self-talk).

For more information on the aforementioned studies, see APA Monitor on Psychology, September 2013 issue.

And if you’d like help for yourself or your employees related to workplace issues, contact us.