The winter health policy paper from Government

The winter health policy paper from Government (Staying mentally well this winter: click here) is important recognition of the challenges of the darker months ahead. At the same time, the paper potentially misses out on a crucial point: that work, workplaces and EAPs are an essential platform to the nation’s mental wellbeing.

Christmas, heralding the start of winter, will be a welcome chance for a break for employees from all the alien stresses of 2020 – a respite from workplace infection worries, the downsides of WFH and days filled with Zoom calls, the threats of burnout. But as it is every year, Christmas is also still a challenging period given the strains on finances, on relationships; feelings of isolation and loneliness; the sheer pressure of expecting every moment to be merry and bright.

The biggest challenge signalled by Government and the NHS is awareness of mental health problems and a willingness and opportunity to get help. ONS figures suggest the numbers of referrals to the NHS for mental health conditions has been falling during the pandemic. It appears people don’t want to go to GPs or hospitals: they don’t want to waste NHS resources, or expose themselves to greater risk of Covid-19 infection.

Instead there’s perhaps been a battening down of the hatches, similar to what happened during wartime. We stay safe, shut out our worries. The problem with this is that the ‘losses’ are felt most keenly when the war ends, in our case when the vaccine programme is well under way in springtime. The crisis might be over, but that’s when people see and feel the loss of family and friends; the loss of jobs and financial securities. There’s also going to be strong sense of loss of time, lost chances for keeping up social connections, for fulfilment of hopes and plans.

The proportion of the population having to deal with Covid-19 infection will always be relatively small compared with the numbers affected financially and/or psychologically. Just as has been recognised with the economy, the fall-out from the pandemic in terms of psychological wellbeing will be long-term.

Work plays a critical role in the mental health of every nation. Providing money yes, but it’s just as important in giving people a sense of purpose, status, structure and routine, as well as friendships, the feeling of being part of a community. That’s why the furlough scheme and the efforts of employers to keep as many people in work as possible have been invaluable, being flexible, offering WFH, making modifications to ensure workplaces are Covid-safe. EAPs have been – and will continue to be – an essential part of what work means and offers to so many employees.

EAPs are helping to ease the burden on NHS services, offering easier access for employees to mental health support, when and how it’s needed, and at an earlier stage. A recent EAPA study compared the use and waiting times for NHS services (via the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (IAPT)) with EAPs. Although caution should be paid as the data is from different studies/different groups of clients, it showed an average waiting time from referral to treatment of 20 days through IAPT, compared with 8.8 days with an EAP. Clients who completed treatment with IAPT needed an average of 6.9 sessions; with EAPs this was four.

Public Health England’s Better Health campaign is all good in terms of advice and awareness. In practice though, for the working population, there is easier to access support via employer funded EAPs, providing more immediate availability of professional support online, by phone, and through video calls.

Andrew Kinder, Vice Chair of Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA), on health policy paper www.eapa.org.uk