How to spot early signs of a mental health breakdown

A few people on my team recently did a mental health first aid training. It included spotting signs that someone is in a crisis. While these will vary from one person to another, withdrawal from social activities (which could be online) or overactivity should never be ignored. Because the signs that something isn’t right are typically subtle, it helps to have a person or people whose responsibility it is to look out for people’s mental health and think about it on a regular basis. You can call this role a mental health stewart or, as we do, pastoral care. If somebody is away from work due to mental health issues, one of the people who fulfil the role would be in contact with them to find out how they are doing and how we can help as a company. They would also be helping a person to reintegrate after they are back at work. I thoroughly recommend having at least two people (perhaps a man and a woman) in a similar role as it can make a tremendous difference for someone who just suffered a crisis for there to be an individual to talk to.

For more ideas how to help your remote team with mental health and wellness go here.