the epidemic
by rantywoman
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/11/public-servants-face-depression-crisis/
Tiina • 3 years ago
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This goes beyond the debate between public, private or otherwise. Research is repeatedly showing alarming statistics about stress and burnout across ALL sectors. The research is almost becoming redundant. We already know that stress, depression, anxiety, etc. have come to epidemic proportions–the funding now needs to be directed toward increasing access to mental health resources, not more research that keeps giving us the same information over and over again while the numbers continue to climb.
While sweeping organizational change may make for a healthier workplace–which should be a focus–there needs to also be a focus on resources available to individuals. We are living in a brave new world, dealing with a pace of constant change greater than perhaps any generation before us. Perhaps coping mechanisms have not kept stride. Whatever the cause, we cannot continue to stigmatize these mental health issues, we need to make them a focus.
I began teaching stress-reduction workshops in an effort to reach more people and meet the obviously increasing need for such work (I have been an RMT for over 12 years). I have recently teamed up with my colleague, an MD-Psychotherapist, to facilitate a one-day retreat based on a model of attainable self-care, received exceptionally well this year among Family Physicians around Ontario, another group with alarming statistics with regard to stress and burnout.
Workshops and programs like this and others need to be funded, there needs to be more access to OHIP-covered individual therapy and counseling, companies with EAP programs may wish to review them for their efficacy in dealing with the growing epidemic of workplace stress. Such proactive measures will certainly make a dent in curbing the otherwise inevitable increase in mental-health-related disability claims.
thebitterbabe 
It would be very nice to have all those things and I would support it…the thing is people who are demanding these forget we do not have any money. We are out. We are broke. We are in an economy where it cannot be taxed more. I wish these people would recognize these facts and offer real world solutions with the economy in mind.
In my world, hands down, it’s the private sector that has suffered the most. There is not comparison. I know talented, wonderful men who have lost their whole businesses because of the recession. Ups and downs are a part of life and all of us should be sharing a part of the downs together instead of some groups losing all and others not being touched at all.