Addressing Workplace Mental Health: A Work Placement Assignment

This work placement assignment delves into the critical issue of mental health in the workplace, specifically addressing depression. The report begins with a description of depression as a significant concern, citing statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and WHO, highlighting its prevalence and impact on employees. It includes research information, program objectives, and stakeholder engagement strategies for healthcare promotion. The assignment outlines the importance of community and sports events, and personal discussions to raise awareness. The report also focuses on advocacy for mental health, identifying affected groups and advocating for policy changes. The assignment discusses action plans, service improvements, and evaluation methods. Finally, the assignment includes a report on the interview with a staff member and role-playing scenarios focused on counseling techniques to address mental health issues, providing a comprehensive approach to understanding and addressing mental health challenges in the workplace. This assignment is a valuable resource available on Desklib for students studying public health.

Running head: WORK PLACEMENT ASSIGNMENT
THE WORK PLACEMENT ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1WORK PLACEMENT ASSIGNMENT
Table of Contents
Task 1...................................................................................................................................2
Part A...............................................................................................................................2
1. Description...............................................................................................................2
2. Research information...............................................................................................2
3. Program objectives..................................................................................................3
Part B...............................................................................................................................4
1...................................................................................................................................4
2...................................................................................................................................4
3...................................................................................................................................4
4...................................................................................................................................5
Part C...............................................................................................................................5
Part D...............................................................................................................................5
Task 2...................................................................................................................................6
Part A...............................................................................................................................6
Part B...............................................................................................................................6
Part C...............................................................................................................................7
Part D...............................................................................................................................7
Part E...............................................................................................................................8

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Part F................................................................................................................................8
Task 3...................................................................................................................................9
Part B.........................................................................................................................10
Task 4.................................................................................................................................11
References..........................................................................................................................14

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Task 1
Part A
1. Description
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2018), more than 45% Australians
agreed to the fact that they suffered from mental illness at some time point of their career. This
assignment will be discussing Depression as the mental health concern at workplace that affects
maximum employees at the workplace ranging from 18 to 65 years of age (Brohan et al., 2012).
Depression has been chosen for the discussion because despite being common, its traits are
unrecognizable and the affected person loses self-esteem, confidence and develops nervousness,
irritability and restless ness. Social discrimination, less access to support service and
unavailability to medication are also responsible for selection of this mental health issue for
discussion (Jorm, 2012).
2. Research information
According to the data provided by the WHO (2018), more than 300 million people
worldwide are suffering from depression currently and maximum of it are due to the emergence
of negative work environment. The survey conducted by WHO worldwide determined that the
anxiety and depression symptoms in workplace is responsible for $1 trillion every years with
respect to productivity. while discussing the demographic of depression is Australia, it should be
mentioned that more than 14% Australians suffer from anxiety and depression every year and
within that 3% develop psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, dementia and so on. In the
overall population of mentally ill patients, only 35% reach to healthcare experts and 90% of them
lead to violence or self-harm such as suicide (WHO, 2018).

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To understand the demographic of depression and associated anxiety within my
workplace, I conducted a survey and from that result, it was understood that more than 70% of
employees were suffering from mild to major depression. Whereas, 18% determined that they
take work pressure as a part of job and did not feel depressed at any time point. The survey
further determined that negative work environment, discrimination based on socio-economic
status and working position was few of the prime reasons for increasing depression and anxiety
within workplace (Cooper & Marshall, 2013).
3. Program objectives
The key issues to be addressed are-
 lack of proper mental healthcare policies within workplaces
 lack of interpersonal communication, leading to stress and communication gap
 Less supportive work environment leading to improper distribution of workload
 excessive stress provided by the workplace to achieve difficult objectives
The objectives of health promotional program are-
 To provide support to the employees suffering from mental health issues so that
their work-related risk factors can be minimized.
 promoting mental health so that positive aspect of working environment and
communication within the employees can be established
 to finish the discrimination within the workplace, treatment will be provided
regardless of the position

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 The awareness about the positive working environment should be spread in the
entire workplace in the presence of higher authorities so that excess pressure
provided for meeting company targets can be reduced.
Part B
1.
For the successful achievement of healthcare promotion plan related to depression in
working environment, it is important to engage with different stakeholders associated with the
organization of healthcare campaign (Laschinger et al., 2013). The stakeholders identified for
this purpose are organization supervisor, manager and leader, healthcare experts associated with
the process, counsellors and the mentally ill patients. Al these people were communicated before
the commencement of the healthcare camp so that their consent can be obtained (Ray et al.,
2013).
2.
The audience of the program will be the entire working staff of my organization as well
as all the supervisors, the manager and higher authority of the company. These people will be
included in the healthcare program as their involvement will help to spread the learnings further
to help other individual who are affected with mental illness (Ray et al., 2013).
3.
To address the depression related issue within workplace, the strategy of community
events, sports events and personal discussion will be utilized. This is an effective way to spread
the awareness regarding mental health and wellness as in these events maximum gathering of

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individuals are expected. Hence, it will be easier for us to spread the awareness regarding
positive mental health and its beneficial consequences in an environment related to sport or
community facilitation (Cottini & Lucifora, 2013).
4.
For implementation of the project
 firstly a pamphlet having all the information of community event and sport event
will be spread within the organization, after taking consent of the higher authority
 Each of the employees will be asked to confirm their attendance in the vent
Part C
For the implementation of the process, the above mentioned strategy will be utilized. For
this purpose resources such as printing of the pamphlets, trophies for the facilitation program,
catering for community event, sport equipment for sport event, advertising costs, and healthcare
related costs will be required (Allegranzi et al., 2013). The possible barriers of this process can
be the negative response from the higher authority while seeking permission for these events
however the supervisor and managers will be provided with the data so that they can understand
the severity for the situation and help us to arrange the community and sport events for the
organization (Neiger et al., 2012).
Part D
After the completion of the events the campaign will ask them to accept their mental
health condition and seek medical assistance to treat that. Further, the evaluation will be done on
the basis of the number of employees who register themselves in the healthcare campaign and

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counselling session after the event. Further, the original objectives will be tallied so that
achievements can be identified. After these, the further continuation of the program will depend
on the successful completion of these events (Allegranzi et al., 2013).
Task 2
Part A
For the systematic advocacy of the group, the population and group identified in the task
1 of this assignment has been chosen. The reason for selecting the employees with depression or
mental illness is that the increased social discrimination based on their health condition.
According to Llupià et al., (2013), people who take medical assistance for their mental illness
has to face social discrimination and inequality at some time point of their career, hence it has
been chosen for the discussion.
Part B
Currently there are more than 14 percent of mentally ill people living in Australia, within
which only 35% of reaches to healthcare experts for the expert assistance. The reason for this are
social discrimination and inequality depending on socio-economic status. Therefore it is
important to promote the human right of mentally ill people so that the social stigma and
discrimination could be reduced. For this purpose, the assignment will be focusing governmental
policies, company policies and affected employees will be chosen as prime stakeholders for
advocacy.
For this purpose roles of different stakeholders will be discussed such as affected people,
and their families, non-governmental organizations, mental healthcare experts, planners and

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government policymakers and the Australian healthcare ministries and higher authorities of
societies so that the awareness can be spread throughout the society using powerful and
respected sources (Llupià et al., 2013).
Part C
The successful advocacy will lead to creation of several policies regarding the mental
healthcare and associated discriminations. For this purpose, firstly the affected group of
employees will be consulted for the identification of their issues related to social discrimination
due to their mental health (Selix & Goyal, 2012). Further they will be asked to take part in the
development of strategies. In different social, communal and political agencies, the case of
mental healthcare needs of employees will be presented and with the help of different means in
each social, political or community related structure the issue will be raised so that awareness
can be spread throughout the society (Reavley et al., 2014).
The social-political issue that need to be changed in this aspect is related to healthcare
assistance that people receive while mental illness. According to LaMontagne et al., (2014),
mental illness is still a taboo in the society and people afraid to seek assistance for mental illness.
Hence, this concept should be changed.
Part D
For the facilitation of mental healthcare advocacy, the action plan will include arranging
meets with the higher authorities of the organization, so that they include Human right
legislations within their organizational policy (Selix & Goyal, 2012). Further, to assess the
Australian Human Rights regarding working employees meeting with any human right expert
will be arranged and with the help of that expert, the local government’s policies will be

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reviewed for improvement. Documents related to client rights, interested, their needs, will be
presented to the local government with a petition signed by group of employees suffering from
mental illness (Reavley et al., 2014).
Part E
For the purpose of service improvement, all the stakeholders associated with the process
will be asked for their valuable feedbacks regarding the access in the program, effectiveness of
the process, gaps present in the service, satisfaction of the affected group and the areas that still
needs to be improved (LaMontagne et al., 2014). The identified needs were related to raising
points regarding human rights of employees, removing discrimination and inequality regarding
mental illness. However, while advocating regarding the process, there are several aspects that
need to be improved as including all the employees in the petition instead of only mentally ill
employees should be done. It would increase the impact of the petition (Cuijpers, Beekman &
Reynolds, 2012).
Part F
While evaluating the process, it should be mentioned that the strategy was able to achieve
maximum of the objectives. However, the objective of changes in the legislation was not
achieved as it is a lengthy process that required much more evidences and support. Therefore for
the achievement of the objective, the complete employees suffering from mental illness in the
local governance area should be included in the strategy. It will broaden the aspect of the process
and government will be forced to think about the important changes that should be made in this
area (Cuijpers, Beekman & Reynolds, 2012).

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Task 3
For the first assessment I preferred to contact a staff of my workplace and conducted an
interview with him so that the internal issues related to healthcare and occupational risk factor
can be assessed. Prior the conduction of the interview, I contacted one of my teacher at OTEN to
assess the interview. I arranged someone to assist me with the interview process and them
concentrated my interview with the worker and asked 15 questions regarding the workplace
environment and associated pressures that enhances their stress and fatigue in workplace. I asked
each question to the worker and ask him to provide honest and appropriate answer so that
through his response the condition of other staff at the organization can be improved. This
session lasted for 20 minutes and the worker was able to answer all the questions with honest and
quick response. He was able to point out the risk factors associated with the workplace that
increases the depression condition.
The second role play conducted was regarding the counselling procedure of the workers
so that they can overcome their depression and focus on their personal as well as professional life
to achieve supreme success. I this session that lasted for 20 minutes each I counselled three
people, one 15 year old teen, who was a victim of school bullying, one 30 year old married man
suffering from relationship related issues that are affecting his work efficiency and finally a 70
year old person who is living alone and after the death of his partner, coping up with the
loneliness to move forward in life. In the first scenario, as the victim was minor and was
suffering from issue like bullying at school that has the capability to hamper the entire life of the
victim, I chose cognitive behavioral therapy to treat the consciousness of the victim. While
discussing the scenario with the victim I noticed that he the victim was shameful and did not

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wanted to share the situation, however as per the therapy of cognitive behavior model, I was able
to point out the positives in that negative situation and build little confidence and strength so that
the victim can continue normal student life. Whereas, while second scenario, while discussing
the situation, I applied family counselling procedure as the victim was a family man and was
suffering from relationship related issues. Hence, I acknowledged the client immediate concerns
and let the family sit and talk to clarify their differences. Further, I took consent from the client
so that I can record the case and add appropriate case notes to it. The family counselling process
was appropriate in case as the relation related issues were faced by the entire family, hence
asking the entire family to discuss their concern was my top priority. Finally, to deal the most
difficult case related to the old man who lost his partner and was coping to learn to live alone, I
chose rational emotive and reality therapy. The prime concept of these therapies are to relate the
victim of depression with the reality of life and be satisfied with the content they have in their
future. This scenario was difficult to assess as the old man was suffering from loneliness after the
death of his partner and hence, the therapies used as intervention in his situation was destined to
improve his condition. Therefore, rational emotive and reality therapy was used to assess and
treat the condition of the victim.
Part B
While conducting this task, in which I had to take interviews of workers, and counsel
three different victims of depression, I took the help of my teachers and workplace seniors to
assess me with the nuances. While conducting the interview I learned that the way of asking
question decides the type of answer. Further, while conducting counselling, it was challenging
for me to understand the type of theory I would apply on the victims so that maximum help can
be provided to them. Hence, this session of role play, interviews and counselling, I was able to