You Aren't Crazy

It seems as though there is a lot more public discussion about mental health these days. I've read some about fascinating new brain research that is helping us understand more than ever before about how this vital organ works, and how its diseases can alter its workings. There is also growing awareness about conditions such as bipolar, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), depression, anxiety, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), substance abuse, and more.

What does that have to do with your business, you ask? Consider the following:

•                 More schools and businesses (especially large organizations) have put "active shooter" procedures into place to protect their people from the possibility of a deranged and suicidal killer.

•                 The shortage of employees is complicated by an increasing number of failed drug screenings by applicants, and deaths from heroin abuse are alarmingly high.

•                 Legislative mandates have shifted toward mental health "parity", meaning in theory that mental health gets the same coverage a person could get for medical or surgical care. If you offer employee health care benefits, you are paying for that expanded coverage.

•                 What is the impact on your business when an employee is alcohol or drug impaired, depressed, abusive towards other team members, or withdrawn from them? Your business efficiency goes down, and employees are less engaged.

And how about the impact of all of this on you as the owner of your business? It's just another thing to add to the pile of stressors that already come with business ownership. Yet because we business owners are a proud and independent lot, we believe that being an entrepreneur means that we are somehow gifted with the amazing ability to handle piles of stress with calm resiliency and decisive execution all by ourselves. It turns out, not so much.

When I started my coaching business, I joined a local BNI chapter, and met another member who is a psychotherapist. Over time, coming to understand her work and her business, I began to see mental health in a new light. Instead of thinking that people with mental health issues were "crazy" and should just straighten themselves up, she got me thinking about a different viewpoint. She explains that the brain is an organ, just like the heart, or liver, or lungs. If those organs are diseased, we will automatically seek medical help to cure the disease. Well, the brain can be diseased as well. So why do we balk at seeking help to cure or manage the problem? Why do we stigmatize those with mental health, but sympathize and embrace those with other organ diseases?

I share all this in the hope that perhaps these thoughts will be a bit of a revelation for you, as they were for me. Two thoughts are worth taking from this that relate to your business. One, be alert to the mental health of your employees. I know, neither you nor I are experts in this, nor do we always know how best to approach and deal with someone's brain-related disorder. But we owe it to ourselves, our business, and our employees to seek advice and help for them when we notice that something isn't right.

Second, consider how best to take care of your own mental health. It does your business no good, and it does your life no good to try to go it alone. Seek advice, don’t hide from it. Taking care of yourself is the first step to taking care of your business.