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Koi69
New Contributor

How to get the corporate world to take mental illness seriously.

Greetings and thanks for taking the time to read my 1st post.

 

 I want to get my story out there not out of spite, revenge or even pity but just because I think that the message about mental health is not getting out there, especially in the work place. And I do not want anybody to experience what I have been through (as detailed below).

 

My story ........

 

It took a while for me to finally realise ( or admit) that I was having issues with depression and anxiety probably due to the negative stigma around it.

 

When I finally established that I was having  issues and my job was not helping my situation much I tried to work with my company to sort things out. Unfortunately my manager and the company as a whole was not very supportive (quite the opposite) and the only option I had left was to  arrange unpaid extended leave so that I could deal with things.

 

I had to give extended notice that I was taking a break and received very little help / support and I was still struggling on a day to day basis. I finally managed to make it to the end of my time (well almost - had a few wobbles and a breakdown prior to finally finishing)

 

Some may say that I was lucky that the company would allow it but as this story progresses you will see that is not the case.  I was signing up to a fixed amount of time away from work with no guarantee of my job being kept open for me when I was ready to return. 

 

I spent many months travelling, spending time with my family and enjoying the "outside world" wildlife , walking and photography, which was great.

 

I also embarked on a program of de-stressing which involved working with my GP around anti-depression medication, acupuncture, meditation and counselling.

 

Taking extended time off was really great to get things into prospective and to step off the hamster wheel.

 I was lucky enough to be able to sort things out in my mind but I wish I could say that was the same with work.

They started off withholding my annual bonus payment due to an incident that had occurred prior my departure ( the final straw before my breakdown). I had to go back (during my time off) and have serious reviews & investigations made around my behaviour.

 

The company in no way acknowledged that I was experiencing issues which resulted in a breakdown and to that end they felt that there was no blame on their part due to lack of support. After many horrible meetings they finally decided to give me a very small payment but they still maintained I was in the wrong.

 

So after my travels and rediscovering myself, I gave notice to my company that I wished to return and they then looked at taking me back. Or so I thought...... My manager called me up to say that I could have my old role back..... After he had investigated the 20 + accusations from my peers around my  "behaviour" (18 months previous during my breakdown).   

 

Well this set me back more than you can imagine having to attend formal meetings with management and HR where it seems as if everybody was jumping on the band wagon saying bad things about you because of course the good things were never mentioned.

 

So eventually the "investigation" was completed and all claims were substantiated, so they said they were prepared to offer me a different ( a lot more junior role), gave me a written warning and said that this would be taken into consideration at my next bonus payment.

 

I am still currently performing this junior role which is really getting to me. My old role has been recently re-advertised and they have said that I would not be considered for it.

 

Since I returned I have been very happy to share my story with other members of staff (or what I can due to confidentiality clauses !) and I have received so much positive feedback from my peers around how my honesty and openness can help them to.

 

So I am using both of these positive and negative treatments to spur me on to looking into either working with existing support organisations or setting my own consultancy to start to educate companies and people in the workplace to take mental illness serious and to promote it in a positive light.

 

I never want anybody to go through what I have at the mercy of the ignorant / non-understanding corporate beast.

I am currently looking into starting a Cert IV in Mental Health Peer Work and have been in contact with most of the support organisations both overseas here and in Australia

If anybody has any ideas or suggestions on how I can break into the “corporate” training side of things, I would really appreciate it or if anybody would like any more details around how I dealt with things I am happy to share them with you.


 

I saw this image the other day on a website and thought it rings so true (I'll probably get clobbered by copyright !) 

 

4 REPLIES 4

Re: How to get the corporate world to take mental illness seriously.

@Koi69  Welcome. I don’t have any suggestions, but I wanted to wish you all the best with such an important undertaking.

Thankyou for sharing your story, insight and courage. 

Re: How to get the corporate world to take mental illness seriously.

The corporate world is based on ruthless people who achieve their ambitions of success. Good on them, they are not paralyzed by abuse history or psychotic paralysis. If youcan't succeed in that environment you need to find a new employment environment. Ruthlessness is great, it achieves results and mega financial gains. You gotta be in it to win it.

 

I do not partake in that. I work in an entry level role with minimal pay. I value it absolutely not for the hourly rate of pay but because my colleagues treat me me kindness and respect - I'v suffered 7 years of hell & workplace bullying, unemployment & unpaid volunteer work  to find this employment and positive workplace culture. 

Re: How to get the corporate world to take mental illness seriously.

@BryanaCamp It is misguided and ill-informed to presume that some of those in supposedly 'higher' or 'more-accomplished' positions have not suffered from abuse and/or mental illness in some form. It is also perpetating the stigma associated with mental illness in the workforce to suggest that someone should find alternative employment. The case that @Koi69 is putting forward is that there is a distinct lack of knowledge and/or empathy around mental illness in the workforce and that they have been party to both the stigma associated with that and very much a lack of understanding of what they have been through. The solution here should not be to change employment (unless that is a personal consideration for the person involved) rather how can we educate those we work for and with to gain a better understanding of mental illness, the effects it has on us personally and the subsequent education that needs to be given to all around us. Stigma around mental illness persists because we do not have the right conversations and so many still do not understand it. When mental illness begins to be considered as an illness like many physical illnesses then maybe it can also be more widely understood. The corporate world is no different to any other place of employment ...and 'success' is subjective. It is discriminatory to label or pigeon hole one section of society as being ruthless merely because they have achieved a higher level of what some call success and even more misguided to presume that abuse has not or does not happen within this same cohort. The reality is that abuse and mental illness can happen to anyone in any form - no matter what they do for work, where they live or who they are ...and the role we have as people who have similarly suffered from abuse and/or mental illness is to help provide a greater understanding of the difficulties we face, a knowledge of the warning signs, ways to support us and a much wider and greater knowledge to enable workplaces everywhere to be more aware and empathetic to it's employees in terms of their mental health as a whole. Every individual has the right to work and feel valued in their chosen field - and that field can be any type of employment whether it be working in a supermarket or running a large organisation ...abuse and mental illness does not discriminate and neither should we.

Re: How to get the corporate world to take mental illness seriously.

I think that everyone has valid points @Koi69 @Zoe7 @BryanaCamp @Maggie and that employment for people with mental illness is something that I am really passionate about and wish I had the health to be able to impact that area of social policy amongst others, but unfortunately my health has let me down.

 

I agree with @Zoe7 that abuse and mental illness most definitely do not discriminate and your position has no impact if you lose that one of life's many lotteries. But I will say that if you are on the other side, and you are violent and abusive, that yes, your status can contribute greatly to you being able to hide that you are. We tend to be hierarchical beings socially, and people seem to turn a blind eye or make excuses for people at the top. 

 

But I also agree with @BryanaCamp . There is a scale of severity that hasn't been spoken of, and a scale of functional impairment as a result of abuse and/or mental illness. And I can understand your frustrations and sadness over only being spoken for by people that are very high functioning or have reached some of their potential. There's lots of variables at play, but yeah, there most definitely is a scale of severity. @Koi69 you said I spent many months travelling, spending time with my family and enjoying the "outside world" wildlife , walking and photography, which was great. That's incredible that your company gave you that much leave and that you did not require hospitalisations, but if you want to advocate for people with mental illness, you have to include everyone, otherwise we just end up helping the same people and ignoring the same people around and around. 

 

Just my 2 cents. I could write heaps more but will leave it at that. 

 

Corny 

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