A lesson on mental health

What can a supportive employer do to help? Milwaukee Commerce magazine spoke to Dr. Munther Barakat, Director of Behavioral Health Therapy at Aurora Health Care:

Q: What are experiencing during this time?

A: A lot of it has to do with adjusting to working at home. For me, all of a sudden most of my schedule is made up of meetings. We’re not meeting face-to-face anymore, so there’s not that natural interaction that happens so things just get addressed at the moment. Instead, a meeting has to be set up. That’s been a challenge, among other obvious challenges – trying to be productive while managing your home life as well.

Q: People have always struggled with work-life balance -- and now we’re trying to do both in real time at the same time, right?

A: Right. Especially for people who have children, because now they have the responsibility of trying to adjust their schedule to their kids’ schedules. All their learning is virtual and essentially has to be spearheaded by the parent, making sure their child is turning in work and actively participating. Then they have to refocus on their own work.

And there’s not that definite start and end time any more – you go to work and then you leave, and there’s that kind of transition period. Instead, you’re home all day, and all of a sudden you notice that it’s past dinnertime and you’re still working. You have to be more mindful of your schedule.

Q: What can a supportive employer to do help an employee who is experiencing challenges?

A: First, acknowledge that there’s a big adjustment. People might be experiencing difficulty managing their own schedule because of what’s going on at home. Be mindful of when you contact employees. If it gets past a certain time, it’ll give them a sense that they should always be working.

Keeping employees informed is a big part of it, so they understand your thought process and where things may be heading.

Q: As some organizations bring employees back to an in-person office environment, how can employers address health and safety concerns?

A: They have to show that they’re taking precautions to make sure employees are safe. Everybody is going to have some anxiety returning back. But once you get acclimated and you see that safety precautions are in place, your anxiety level will go down.

Q: Are you seeing anything positive emerge from this?

A: I’m seeing people accessing mental health services. We’ve moved everything to virtual, and this actually opens up access to a lot more patients.

When people are working at home, they have to be more aware of their mental health and more mindful. It’s all about reframing things. It can be really difficult to be your children’s teacher – but at the same time, doing that helps your relationship with your child. When I think about it that way, it makes you feel differently about it. Being at home with your family can be rough, because people are vying for space and there’s noise in the house. But at the same time, it helps people build relationships.