By Cathy Bussewitz, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) – His first panic attack came to a company level meeting, just before its planned presentation. Carolina Lasso had given many similar discussions on the achievements of her marketing team. When her name was called this time, she couldn’t speak.
“I felt a knot in my throat,” said Lasso. “My head, it was as if it was inside a bubble. I couldn’t hear, I couldn’t see, and it was like an eternity. It was just a few seconds, but it was so deep and in an overwhelming way for me.”
Lasso was struggling after a move of cross-country followed by a divorce. Her boss suggested mental health leave, a possibility that she did not know existing. She feared that taking leave would affect the way her team considered it or cost her a future promotion, but in the end she did.
“I am grateful for this opportunity to take the time to heal,” said Lasso, 43. “Many people feel guilty when they take a leave when it is linked to mental health. … There is an additional weight that we carry on our shoulders, as if it had been our fault.”
Despite the fear of the repercussions, more and more adults recognize that backing up work to deal with emotional charges or psychological conditions that hinder their lives is a necessary choice, a growing number of employers recognize.
Complexch Corp., a provider of mental health programs for absence employees and services, encourages its commercial customers to make workers’ well-being a priority before individuals reach a breaking point while having processes in place for those who need absence sheets.
“Since the start of the COVVI-19 pandemic, collectively, we have just been in this constant state of agitation,” said Jennifer Birdsall, main clinical director of Compysch. “We just had this change of change and uncertainty.”
Depression, anxiety and adjustment disorder, which involve excessive stress reactions, have been the three main diagnostics of employees who have taken mental holidays in the past two years among Galle customers, a technological company based in Chicago which administers leaves and benefits for large employers.
Structure a leave
Mental health leave can last weeks or months. In some cases, workers obtain approval to work a reduced calendar or take short periods if necessary, using an approach called “intermittent leave”.
In most American organizations with 50 or more employees, people can request vacation through the family and medical leave law. Federal law authorizes workers with serious health problems to paid or unpaid leave up to 12 weeks, depending on state and local laws.
Some employers require people to use disease days or vacation days accumulated to continue to receive a pay check during the exit. For longer leaves, workers can access short -term disability plans, if their employer offers one.
Lasso’s leave lasted six months and included therapy and travel to India for additional treatment. She returned to her work but decided after a year to leave for good. Later, she launched a business to train people to promote a more human work culture.
Mental health leave is “not only ok, but it can really unlock new possibilities once we have time to do work – therapy, drugs, anyway – and have enough work distance to reconnect with ourselves,” said Lasso.
Talk openly about struggles
Social stigma around the challenges of mental health leads many people to avoid requesting treatment or requesting leave. Newton Cheng, director of health and performance at Google, hopes to change this by sharing its own difficulties.
Its first self-divulgation occurred during the pandemic, when a speaker invited employees at a meeting to share how they were going. When it was his turn, Cheng started to cry.
He explained that he had trouble meeting his expectations as a father and did not know how to overthrow the steam.
“It was simply horrible for me because, one, I had just cried in front of my colleagues and I was definitely taught as a professional – and as a man – you don’t do this,” recalls Cheng. “And then two, I had never really articulated and I said aloud these words. I hadn’t even allowed myself to think that. But now they are there and I had to face them.”
Colleagues responded by relaying their own difficulties, but Cheng’s difficulties have continued. In February 2021, he could not get out of bed because he felt paralyzed by terror, he said. A therapist said he showed symptoms of major depression and anxiety.
“I just realized:” I am very debated a lot and it goes quite deeply. I don’t think I can continue to put adhesive tape on this. I probably need to take a leave, ”recalls Cheng.
Hoping that his decision would benefit others, he announced to 200 people at a conference that he planned to take mental health leave. Instead of derailing the rally as he feared, his honesty inspired his colleagues participating in the conference to open.
“It was like a fireworks show,” said Cheng. “They are like” wow, I can’t believe he did that. “Then they forgot me.
Take the time you need
While balancing courses and full -time employment during her last year of college, Rosalie Mae began to struggle to get out of bed and cry uncontrollable. However, she had the impression that she had to “keep things together” to avoid charging her colleagues at the University of Utah bookstore, where Mae worked as an accounting clerk.
She then found herself to call a hotline of suicide. “Once he reached this point, I knew, especially at the request of my husband, we have to do something more,” said Mae, 24.
In his case, it meant to take a five-week workfather to put your health and well-being first. It recommends the same for others who are in a similar position.
“Taking a mental health leave is not necessarily a remedy, but it is important to give you a break and allow you to come together, to do a plan to proceed and take the measures to feel better,” said Mae.
Say managers and colleagues
Before approaching the subject of a mental health leave with a manager, consider the culture of the workplace and the strength of your professional relationships, said Cheng. He remembers having said: “For my health and my well-being, and the good of my family and what is best for the business, the least risky thing for me is to go on leave.”
People who suspect an unfriendly reception can simply say: “I have to go on medical leave. I need time to recover, ”he advised.
There is also no legal or ethical requirement to say to all those you work with the nature of your leave.
“Your colleagues do not need to know why,” said Seth Turner, co-founder of Absencesoft, provider of leave management and housing solutions. “They just need to know:” I’m going to be here right now, and I’m going to have left right now, and I will come back. ” »»
Have you overcome an obstacle or make a deep change in your work? Send your history questions and ideas to cbussewitz@ap.org.
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