emmacdoLeave a comment

Integrating the different parts of your life

integrating the different parts of your life
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Back in November 2019 I attended the Women in Tech Regatta and was inspired by several of the talks I attended. One of them was around “Integrating career and parenthood” and as I was sitting there, I felt that it touched upon some of the tensions we face in the workplace when battling with our mental health regardless of whether we are parents or not.

This got me thinking of the work-life balance again, and how we can create work environments that are favourable to managing the different roles we have in life.

Continue reading “Integrating the different parts of your life” →

emmacdo1 Comment

What is burnout trying to tell us?

What is burnout trying to tell us

There’s a lot of information out there about burnout, but have you ever stopped to think about what it really means? What is the message being sent to you from your mind and body when you burn out?

We can talk a lot about the circumstances that lead to burnout and in fact it’s easy to blame others, particularly employers. They overwork us, they don’t see us for who we are, etc. etc. But let’s take a step back and ask ourselves what the burnout was trying to tell us. This is something we don’t talk about so often, and yet it’s crucial if we want to be better able to understand and prevent burnout.

Continue reading “What is burnout trying to tell us?” →

emmacdoLeave a comment

What is Normal? Reflections on mental health and the hospitality industry

Mental health in the hospitality industry
Alex Haupt, 101 Gowrie

Guest blog by Alex Haupt from 101 Gowrie.

Editor’s note: at the end of September, I attended a talk run by Creative Mornings Amsterdam where Alex spoke on the topic “Muse”. He ended up talking quite a bit about mental health and I was really inspired by his presentation. Afterwards, I decided to ask him if he’d be willing to contribute to my blog, and you can see his thoughts below.

Continue reading “What is Normal? Reflections on mental health and the hospitality industry” →

emmacdoLeave a comment

Finding the right work environment, when there are so many wrong ones

People working
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

In previous blog posts or videos, I’ve talked a bit about a toxic work environment. And while I worked at Impraise, I got to study a lot about what makes a good company culture. Yet it only occurred to me not so long ago that there is more than one type of negative or toxic work environment, which is what I’d like to talk about today.

I used to believe that a toxic work environment was the classic “Devil wears Prada” or “Horrible bosses”: people getting yelled at, intimidated, and whole bunch of fear tactics.

Continue reading “Finding the right work environment, when there are so many wrong ones” →

emmacdoLeave a comment

Consciously choosing life over work: how to find a balance

In my last two blog posts I’ve been talking about our relationship with work and how it affects our mental health. Generally speaking, the workplace has a huge impact on us – including our mental health. Working in a negative environment can be really detrimental. If everyone around you is demotivated or unhappy in their jobs, or if everyone is extremely stressed… no matter what it is, it will affect you.

Continue reading “Consciously choosing life over work: how to find a balance” →

emmacdo3 Comments

How we define success at work, and what this means for our mental health

How we define success at work
Success

A topic that’s been on my mind for a while is our definition of success, particularly when it comes to our professional lives. Ultimately, I believe it’s the source of a lot of stress, and can end up being the cause of burnout and other mental health issues we experience at work.

Continue reading “How we define success at work, and what this means for our mental health” →

emmacdo1 Comment

Overcoming workplace trauma and restoring your mental health

workplace trauma

I often joke that I have PTSD from some of my previous assignments, but if I’m honest with myself, there is some truth to it.

Of course it’s not as extreme as for example, for war veterans or victims of abuse – but I genuinely believe that you can leave a work experience feeling scarred. The negative experience and consequences you carry with you can feel traumatic and affect your behaviour in your new workplace and with colleagues, which of course, you don’t want. So today on the blog, I want to tackle the topic of workplace trauma.

Continue reading “Overcoming workplace trauma and restoring your mental health” →

emmacdoLeave a comment

How to react if a colleague tells you they have a mental health problem

How to react if a colleague tells you they have a mental health problem
Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy from Pexels

Cue: this ridiculous stock image is certainly not the right answer.

One of the reasons we’re still struggling to address mental health issues, is because of the stigma that comes with them.

In the past (and probably still today), telling someone you were seeing a psychologist was often met with raised eyebrows as if to say “oh no! They must be crazy” or “they must have serious issues”. Same with the word depression, people have a concerned look and are worried your’e suicidal, don’t know how to respond, take pity on you or are worried you’re going to become a burden.

Continue reading “How to react if a colleague tells you they have a mental health problem” →

emmacdoLeave a comment

Mental health – how to address the issue with your boss?

Mental health – how to address the issue with your boss?
Photo by Jopwell from Pexels

As I’ve been talking a lot about mental health in the workplace, it seemed natural to cover talking about it with your boss/manager. This is a difficult topic: on the one hand mental health is still stigmatized, particularly in the workplace. On the other hand, I believe in the importance of speaking about these issues to raise awareness.

Whether or not you feel comfortable telling your manager about your mental health issue is very personal, and will depend on several factors: your level of trust, their openness to listen to you, their ability to understand (as you perceive it), and what you expect as an outcome of the conversation.

Continue reading “Mental health – how to address the issue with your boss?” →

emmacdoLeave a comment

Living with Anxiety – Part 2

mental health in the workplace

With the recent publication of the « Thriving at work » study, it felt like an appropriate time to write the sequel to my first post, which I’d been planning for a while.

In case you’ve not heard of the report, it was commissioned by Theresa May and highlighted the fact that around 300’000 people with a long term mental health problem lose their jobs each year. Not only that, but apparently the number of people forced to stop work as a result of mental health problems was 50% higher than those with physical health conditions.

Continue reading “Living with Anxiety – Part 2” →