Mental Health, COVID-19 and the Workplace As we move through these extraordinary times, we know this pandemic has taken and will continue to take a toll on our working lives, our families and friendships, and our emotional and mental health. For some, shutdown has been a time to stay home, learn a new skill, and spend time with family. For others, shutdown has meant working from home while caring for children and loved ones, or sharing workspace with partners and spouses. But for many – about 85% of our Members at Locals 175 & 633 whose workplaces were deemed essential earlier this year – shutdown meant continuing to work every day and adjusting to changing modifications and requirements as they happened. Everyone has had to come to terms with how these changes have affected them emotionally, physically, and financially. According to Workplace Safety North1: “In May 2020, a public opinion poll commissioned by [the Canadian Mental Health Association] CMHA Ontario showed that almost 70 per cent of Ontarians believe the province is headed for a ‘serious mental health crisis’ as it emerges from this pandemic.” ThinkMentalHealth.ca, a partnership of Ontario health and safety and mental health associations, estimates that about 10% of Canadians suffer from anxiety disorders, the effects of which can range from mild to severe.2 And right now, workers with existing mental health concerns face the added weight of pandemic-related stress.
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Checkout Magazine
Working in a Pandemic Whether you’ve continued to work or you’ve stayed off and may be deciding to return to work, this pandemic is a major stressor. • Deciding to send children back to school and/or child care. • Dealing with personal exposure in public or at work. • Potentially caring for others who are ill or immune-compromised. • Attending medical appointments. • Limited ability or inability to attend physiotherapy or counselling services, which can have an additional impact on injured workers who are trying to return to, or stay at, work.
Signs Prolonged pain, anxiety, stress, or depression can hinder the body’s healing response and it can make a person physically sick. Some small amount of anxiety is a useful biological reaction. Our brains are programmed to react with flight, fright, or to freeze in the face of acute stressors, so some anxiety can help us perform tasks or avoid dangerous situations.2 But staying at an increased level of anxiety is not healthy and there is no break when it comes to stress and anxiety about COVID-19.
• Financial concerns, and more.
You face it at work, take it home to your families, deal with it as customers and co-workers, see it in your news feed and on TV, and more.
Adding to all of this anxiety, is:
It is relentless.
• A constant bombardment of click-bait media reporting;
This stress might manifest itself as someone being more reactive; having a short fuse and little patience. More serious consequences include high blood pressure, an increased chance of cancer and diabetes, depression, and more.
• Changing restrictions as some services reopen or close; • Conflicting information on social bubbles; • Different restrictions with our municipalities, and; • A lack of real guidance from elected officials. As these stressors add up, we are seeing a shift to chronic stress and anxiety.
Depending on the individual anxiety can appear in different ways. Many describe anxiety as a wholebody experience, including the symptoms listed on the right, from Health Link BC.3
1Return to the Workplace: A psychological toolkit for heading back to work. (n.d.). p. 5 Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www. workplacesafetynorth.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/CMHA_ReturnToWorkplace-Toolkit_EN-Final.pdf 2 Think Mental Health: Understanding Anxiety Disorders. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2020, from http://thinkmentalhealth.ca/anxiety-disorders/ 3Anxiety. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/anxty
