Preventing Mental Ill Health

And Creating a Thriving, Well, Workforce.

Trauma is a terrible thing. It can cause death or ruin a life. It comes in many forms, physical, mental, and emotional.

So, as I write this article, I do not wish to discount the impact of trauma. When someone experiences a traumatic event, they do need support and effective therapy to help them return to their normal life.

It is incredible to see the difference in people. A single event for one person may be inconsequential and for another, it may destroy their life. Often siblings who grew up with the same abusive parent, can have completely different perceptions. One may be fixated, depressed, and addicted. The other may be bright, positive, and compassionate.

Whilst we do all we can to reduce the risk of traumatic events in this life, for ourselves and for those around s, there is a much more insidious and harder to detect cause of mental health challenges, and it all is self-perpetuated in the mind.

When a person is not living a life that they love and is not acting in ways that leave them feeling good about themselves, they can experience a decline into negativity. Similarly, self-doubt, unhandled, can become crippling.

Every person has a right to feel inspired, to love what they do and to feel good about their life. But along with that right is an obligation to do one’s level best to achieve that.

We can all present many reasons and justifications as to why our life is not working the way we wish. But the underlying reality is that we are responsible for our own lives.

It is true that negativity, failure, and misfortune can lead to discouragement and a loss of motivation. But that does not have to be the end game. That can be a temporary condition. However, if a person gives up on themselves, the next step is self-degradation.

And many have weird beliefs about failure and find it a source of humiliation, a state most people fear more than death. Failure can be seen as a catastrophe or an opportunity to grow and evolve, no matter how painful.

But all these things require some resilience, a strong sense of self. When a person feels good about who they are, they handle life’s challenges, discouragements, failures, and pitfalls with greater personal power.

Building a strong sense of self is a smart and effective way to build a strong level of self-acceptance. It creates self confidence and positivity. Working on liking yourself and liking who you are is not a case of wishing and affirming. It comes from action.

This is the foundation of our “Mental Health Posters” series. We are supporting all people to re-learn basic life skills that put more goodwill into the world, whilst at the same time leaving the person who acted in this way to like who they are becoming. It is a powerful way to raise self-acceptance and build a strong sense of self.

Try it yourself. Go and find someone who is doing good work. Take a moment to acknowledge them for their efforts and tell them why you think it is so good. Comment on their dedication work ethic and responsible approach.

When you walk away, how do you feel?

We created the posters to highlight these actions, for it to be a 12 month program of learning and growing. As each new behavior is rolled out at the start of the month, the content can also be used at the start of toolbox talks and team meetings.

You can even ask team members to share their experiences.

If you have not checked the posters in a while, you can find them here.

If you are not sure how you can make it work in your workplace, grab a spot in my Calendar and let’s talk. https://calendly.com/john-e-toomey

Finally, if your company has strict publishing guidelines, we are happy for you to re-publish the content on your own poster designs. We simply ask that our logo and website be included as the creators of the content.