CBT in the workplace – a different approach to mental health awareness training
The known and unknown impact of coronavirus on mental health is something that has attracted a lot of attention recently. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported that during the coronavirus pandemic the number of adults in Britain experiencing depression has doubled. From a personal perspective, I found lockdown quite difficult and I am relieved that life is going back to some form of normality.
Within the workplace, a dramatic shift took place and we all found ourselves working in unfamiliar territories. I had no idea Zoom existed until March 2020! Now more than ever, organisations need to focus on managing mental health in the workplace. During these difficult times, employees might be experiencing a range of emotions such as low mood, anxiety, fear, sadness, worry, anger and loneliness. These feelings can be intensified when we include coronavirus, financial difficulties, job uncertainty and heavy workloads.
Something that I put to use to manage my own mental health during lockdown and beyond are the CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) tools and techniques that I previously taught my clients experiencing mental health problems. Each and every one of us can learn and use these invaluable techniques on a daily basis to maintain our mental wellbeing. This can be achieved by providing training within the workplace that focuses on the use of CBT principles to manage and improve mental wellbeing.
What is CBT?
In any situation, our thoughts, emotions and actions are all interlinked. The way we feel influences the way we think and behave. By changing the way we think we can change the way we behave and the way we feel emotionally and physically. In a nutshell, these are the main principles of CBT.
CBT is an evidence based type of therapy and is widely used across the NHS to treat common mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Within some organisations, it is offered in the form of one to one therapy as part of the employee assistance programme. However, having worked in mental health and HR for a number of years now, I can see the benefits of delivering mental health awareness training that specifically teaches CBT techniques. Of course, there will always be a need for one to one therapy for some individuals, but all employees can benefit from learning self-help techniques to maintain good mental health. Using CBT principles in the workplace can be a powerful tool to empower employees to make real life changes to maintain good mental health.
Benefits of using CBT principles in the workplace
- It puts the individual in the driving seat by helping them identify and manage their triggers, negative thoughts and unhelpful behaviours. It develops self-awareness and hence improves mental wellbeing. ‘Self-awareness gives you the capacity to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. It enables you to keep growing.’— Lawrence Bossidy.
- It focuses on the ‘here and now’ and yet the techniques learnt could last a lifetime.
- It teaches the individual to break down the problem into small components, dealing with one component at the time. This helps individuals feel less overwhelmed and more empowered to take action.
- Improves work-life balance by highlighting the importance of hobbies, social activities and exercise.
- Teaches goal setting and problem solving techniques that can be used in everyday situations inside and outside of work.
- It provides individuals with the tools and techniques to help them help themselves, take action when required and know when to seek help.
Having seen this model work in real life and its powerful impact, I am passionate about promoting its use and benefits in the workplace. CBT has been with us for years, but the integration and using it to bring new and personal value within a training setting is something that is worth further exploration. Maybe 10 or 20 years from now the use of CBT principles will be firmly embedded in the workplace and every single employee, manager and senior leader will be able to have an open and honest conversation about their mental wellbeing. It will definitely be a time I look forward to.
Mariyana is an experienced individual with 15 years of organisational experience.
She has worked in a variety of roles including psychology, HR and Organisational Development, mainly in public sectors and not for profit organisations.
Her background is predominantly in mental health and psychology, doing one to one and group work, using CBT principles to help and empower clients manage common mental health problems. Having worked with a diverse range of clients, Mariyana is able to deal with a wide range of topics, pull on different models in addition to CBT, such as Appreciative Inquiry, GROW and motivational interviewing. She adapts her style accordingly to meet the different needs of her clients.
Most recently she has worked in HR and Organisational development, dealing with the full employee cycle and got involved in numerous change projects using agile project management methodology.
She is passionate about introducing a unique and practical way of promoting mental wellbeing in the workplace. This consists of providing mental health awareness training that specifically uses CBT principles to introduce tools and techniques that will help individuals help themselves. She has presented in a number of conferences on topics such as ‘using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for stress management’ and ‘Getting to know your communication style’. She possesses strong presentation and facilitation skills, with the ability to take a novel concept and adapt in a way that provokes and challenges thinking.
