Mental health challenges have reached a new global high with 42% of adults worldwide saying they feel a lot of worry, 41% reporting being stressed and 28% experiencing unhappiness. Burnout is also on the rise, with 49% of people suffering from these symptoms at work. Hybrid working is adding to people’s stress by increasing a sense of isolation, with the fear and uncertainty of the modern world making us ever more anxious. With mental health challenges now being the norm among employees across all organisational levels, people are talking about mental health at work more than ever before. While this is an important step in the right direction, especially in terms of reducing stigma and getting help, many employees typically end up confiding in their manager who is not formally trained to manage this kind of challenge. This happens because nowadays, we don’t have the kinds of relationships that we used to have with our family doctors or religious leaders. We have lost our extended community support networks, so all the old ways of managing mental health or discomfort have been taken away from us. Because our managers are in charge of us and our wellbeing at work, in many of the ways that doctors and priests used to be, we end up going to them with our mental health struggles. But they don’t have the spiritual grounding of a priesthood nor the mandate of a doctor so are often at a loss as to how to adequately and safely support their colleague. Click here to read more