Going beyond the duty of care to nurture stronger, more resilient, more productive teams.
Mental health conditions cost Australian workplaces $10.9 Billion a year.
A BeyondBlue/PwC Report has shown that untreated mental health conditions cost Australian workplaces $4.7 billion in absenteeism, $6.1 billion in presenteeism, and $146 million in compensation claims. What’s more, recent research assessments, utilising a human capital approach, estimate the global economic burden of mental illness is skyrocketing from US$2.5 trillion in 2010 to US$6.1 trillion in 2030. Most of this burden was due to lost productivity, defined as absenteeism and presenteeism. In addition to these dire statistics, the Sydney Morning Herald recently reported that Australian workers report the highest burnout rates in the world. Furthermore, appearing before a parliamentary committee The Australian Medical Association has warned that our mental health services have been overwhelmed. Mental health admissions are the fastest growing hospital admission increasing at an average rate of 4.8% each year. Aftershocks of the Covid 19 pandemic continue to reverberate. Periods of lockdown further blurred the boundaries between work and home. We are now facing a perfect storm of unprecedented proportions and the consequences for Australian employers are grave.
“Embracing mental health at work is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic investment.”
Dr Mark Whittington
Consulting Psychiatrist
When questioned about the challenges facing Australian employers Dr Mark Whittington had this to say:
“It all boils down to united we stand divided we fall. Healthy reciprocal relationships are the critical key, not just to productivity at work, but to our health and happiness as individuals. I believe this to be a categorical imperative of nature. Witness the inspiring example of Belgian draft horses.
The average individual Belgian draft horse can pull, on average, about four thousand pounds. By yoking two of these magnificent animals together you might assume that you could double that amount to eight thousand pounds. You would be wrong. Something miraculous happens. The power of relationships multiplies that amount to sixteen thousand pounds! And it gets even more interesting. If you take two Belgian Horses that live together, know each other, and have lived a couple of years of horse life together, on average, the amount that they can pull together blossoms out to a jaw-dropping thirty-two thousand pounds! The quality and depth of their relationship allow them to go from sixteen thousand to thirty-two thousand pounds! But that’s not all. The world record was set by two brother horses that had spent their whole lives together. They pulled a record of no less than fifty-two thousand pounds! That’s the power of relationships!”
Mentally healthy people build supportive, resilient, productive relationships.
It is better by far to focus on the prevention of mental illness than to face the way more daunting task of putting people back together after they have gone over the metaphorical cliff of stress and burnout. Employers have much to gain by reaching far beyond the bare minimum duty of care to mental health support that creates both purpose and engagement. In light of the dearth of mental health services available from our overburdened system, we need to focus on giving people the tools they need to care for themselves and each other. Like the Belgian Horses, the return on investment in raising morale and esprit de corps while building stronger more resilient teams multiplies many times over.
Metaphorical Therapy’s Corporate Seminars deliver significant tangible benefits:
Improved personal wellbeing.
- Empowerment and the feeling of being in control.
- Self-confidence and self-esteem stemming from the mastery of a unique suite of proven practical tools.
- Enhanced ability to cope with emotional and interpersonal problems.
- The ability to work through the steps of processing emotion thus avoiding emotional explosion or implosion.
- Improved understanding of interpersonal relationships and how to manage them.
Improvements in the workplace.
- Prevention of mental illness.
- A drops in absenteeism
- A positive impact on productivity
- Improved resilience
- Acquisition of a set of an invaluable set of skills that enables workers to help not just themselves but each other.
Improvements at home.
- Like ripples on a pond the mental health skills and strategies learned at work will extend embrace life at home – much to the benefit of your family life and society in general.
- Relationships at work and at home are strengthened by sharing our tools and their practical application.
- It’s much like learning a common language along that opens the door to a wealth of essential structured approaches that address the most common psychological problems while destigmatising the subject of mental illness.
- The mastery of this suite of tools, particularly with regard to setting healthy, reasonable boundaries; empowers individuals to recognise and accept their limits. Problems are viewed in perspective and are therefore seen as being manageable rather than overwhelming.
By reaching beyond duty of care you can create an environment that encourages employees to thrive and raise morale by being mutually supportive. You can change mindset which is the key to changing everything. Employees who feel supported in their mental well-being are more motivated, engaged, loyal, and productive. What’s more, by prioritising mental health you can attract a diverse and talented pool of candidates while enhancing your reputation as an employer of choice. If you want to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism in the workplace while building stronger, more resilient more productive teams email us at seminars@metaphoricaltherapy.com.
We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback for our seminars and witnessed extremely high emotional engagement.
“In my role as Human Resources Director; I will definitely use this as a tool for conflict management, self-awareness and introflection exercises for both individuals and teams.”
Jackie B, Human Resources Director
“Complex concepts were made so much easier to understand. Feedback from staff was unanimously and overwhelmingly positive. It was interesting. It was even fun at times. What I liked most of all is that it drew us all a little closer together.”
Courtney S, CEO
“Changing behaviours alone doesn’t change results.
Experts have struggled to explain why 70% of organizational change efforts fail. Arbinger studies show that one critical reason is because too often efforts focus on behaviour rather than what drives behaviour: mindset. Once people see others with a new mindset, they willingly change their own behaviour. This change in mindset is the most effective way to achieve desired results.”
The Arbinger Institute
You can’t help someone with mental illness if you don’t understand what they’re going through.
The winter of depression
I am often asked: “How can I help someone suffering from mental illness?” The answer is surprisingly simple. The key lies in the empathy that can only come from a clear understanding of what they’re going through. Millions of people around the world face the scourge of mental illness every day. Tragically, the vast majority of them feel like they are misunderstood, abandoned, and left to face their demons alone. If you are struggling to understand the psychological problems of a loved one, do not beat yourself up about it. It is hard. Without appropriate guidance, it may even be downright impossible. Their feelings are usually more a product of a complex cascade of circumstances than of linear sequential logic. Someone faces a crisis. Crisis causes anxiety. Anxiety leads to depression. Depression leads to self-medication and sometimes, onwards to addiction. I will say it again: Understanding isn’t easy.
As an example: Watching someone you love slide inexorably ever deeper into the black pit of depression is not only heart-breaking; it is incredibly frustrating. It makes us feel helpless. Especially when one can’t see any obvious reasons for their depression. This is when we are often tempted to say well-intended but incredibly unhelpful things like, “Why don’t you just snap out it.” This leaves the sufferer feeling more isolated and alone than ever. What’s more, they often believe that they should be able to snap out of it and end up feeling worse because they don’t know how to. They have a disease. You can’t snap out of cancer. Understanding why they are anxious or depressed isn’t your job. If you are serious about helping, try to understand how they feel not why they feel. Even with the most common psychological problems like anxiety and depression, truly understanding the depth of their suffering is difficult. The common cry of our Vietnam vets comes to mind: You don’t understand what it’s like! You weren’t there man! People suffering from mental illness feel isolated, alone, misunderstood, and unheard. And that is where you should focus your attempts to ease their pain.
- Educate yourself about their illness. Read up on it. This will help you understand that the causes aren’t always self-evident. For example, depression is very often a chemical problem requiring medication and not the result of some causal circumstance. Gaining knowledge about your loved one’s illness can help you avoid the common error of stigmatizing or stereotyping which just makes matters worse.
- Pay attention. Listen with your heart as much as you do with your ears. Listen actively. When a person feels heard, they are more likely to open up and share what they are going through. When you are listening, be fully present and give them your undivided attention. Avoid answering calls or looking at your phone while they’re talking. Don’t offer solutions or contradict what they are saying. The most important helpful thing you can do is validate their feelings and empathize with them.
- Do your best to understand what they are really going through. Depression can leech all the joy and colour out of their lives. A full-blown panic attack can make them feel as if they are literally dying. As I have said: People with mental illness feel lonely and isolated. What they need most is your loving, non-judgmental presence. As a supportive friend or family member, you can play a crucial role in their recovery journey. You can show your support by being there for them when they need you, offering a shoulder to cry on, and reminding them that they are not alone. If you do this and nothing more, you will significantly ease their suffering.
- Encourage the sufferer to seek professional help. Like physical injury or infection by a pathogen, mental illness is a medical condition that requires treatment by a medical professional. Encourage the person to seek help from a mental health professional, such as a psychiatrist or a psychologist. You can offer to help them find a qualified professional and even drive them to appointments if necessary. Asking for and seeking help is not a sign of weakness. It is an essential courageous step towards recovery.
- Help them develop healthy habits like regular exercise, healthy food, and good quality sleep. Healthy habits are a powerful way to manage their symptoms. For example, exercise is clinically proven to ameliorate the symptoms of depression.
- Keep in mind that the cardinal principle of mental health is self-preservation. You can’t help anybody if you don’t look after yourself. Helping a person with mental illness is often challenging, frustrating, and emotionally draining. It is essential to take care of yourself and seek support for yourself if needed. Talk to a trusted friend or a mental health professional yourself if you start to feel overwhelmed or stressed by the challenge of living with someone suffering from mental illness. Having a supportive network is essential. If you are not a professional you can only “care to there”. Meaning that you can’t care so much that you begin to deplete your own precious emotional resources. To put it another way; you can be caring and generous but you still need to protect yourself with healthy and reasonable boundaries.
How can Metaphorical Therapy help?
If you can’t know what it feels like in the trenches without being in the trenches yourself, how can you understand someone else’s suffering.
The answer is to view their suffering through the lens of metaphor. For example; we view crisis through the metaphor of the siege of a medieval castle. Anxiety is examined through the metaphorical thunder and lightning of a tumultuous, terrifying, life-threatening storm. Depression is explored as a fight for survival through a long, harsh, unremitting winter. You can listen to these engrossing and entertaining metaphorical audio journeys presented through what we call MindMovies. You can listen to excerpts here:
https://metaphoricaltherapy.com/themes/holding_the_fort/
https://metaphoricaltherapy.com/themes/storm-of-anxiety/
https://metaphoricaltherapy.com/themes/winter-of-depression/
Upon listening to the full versions of these stories, patients have reported being moved to tears. They have said that they felt “heard” for the first time and that they felt a great surge of relief knowing that there was something they could share that would give others insight into the nature of their suffering.
Helping someone with mental health issues requires patience, empathy, and above all understanding. You can be a positive force and help them along their road to recovery. By educating yourself, listening actively, being supportive, encouraging professional help, helping them develop healthy habits, and taking care of yourself, you can make a real difference in their journey towards mental wellness. Your support can contribute to their healing and recovery process. But remember, what they need most is your non-judgemental presence and your understanding. The lens of metaphor can help you get much closer to that understanding.
Finally, the best way to help yourself and others with mental illness is to prevent it in the first place. Metaphorical Therapy’s Keystone Principles of Mental Health can do that: Self-preservation. Boundaries. Self-worth. Processing Emotion.
Dr Mark Whittington
1. Ch. B., M.P.M. FRANZCP
Consultant Psychiatrist
June 2023
About the author
Dr. Mark Whittington and Gaby Bush
Dr. Mark Whittington is a graduate of the distinguished Otago Medical School, and has more than 30 years’ experience working at the clinical coalface as a Consultant Psychiatrist.
Gaby Bush is a creative director, writer ,ex-patient, corporate refugee, and survivor of severe PTSD. Gaby is living proof of how well the Metaphorical Therapy System works in the real world.
News & Articles
Related Articles
Over-prescription, a widespread issue in the healthcare industry, refers to the excessive use of medications by healthcare providers. This practice not only leads to unnecessary costs but also poses serious risks to patients’ health.
Cognitive Distortions are irrational thoughts and perceptions that influence our emotions. We all experience cognitive distortions at some time or another and, while this is perfectly normal, in their more extreme forms these distortions can be extremely harmful. Here is a quick overview of common forms of cognitive distortion viewed through the revealing lens of visual metaphor.
People invest a lot of emotion in holding on to their beliefs. And they have a tendency to defend those beliefs very fiercely indeed. Sadly, the first casualties in a confrontation are all too often facts and logic. In fact, they frequently become quite irrelevant. When someone wishes to impress upon you the righteousness of their opinion; passion and volume are often their first weapons of choice.
