Mental Health Chats: Are Mental Health Days A Thing?

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Photo by Binti Malu: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-a-sign-and-eyeglasses-on-table-1485657/

Welcome back to My Jamaica Vignettes. This October we are dedicating all blog posts to mental health awareness. Today we tackle mental health in the workplace. Are mental health days a thing in Jamaica?

Mental Health Days

A mental health day is a day taken off from work or school to minimise or remove responsibilities or commitments so as to avoid stress or possible burn-out. The day can be used to de-stress, relax or do something fun.

So are mental health days a thing here in Jamaica? I have no formal survey results to share (I think I will do a poll on LinkedIn or X). But anecdotally, yes they are. A friend of mine works for a local company that offers mental health half-days each month.

But guess what? There is nothing stopping you from using your allocated sick days and taking a day a month or every other month as a mental health day to reset and relax.

How Can Employers Support Mental Health at Work?

More companies should allot mental health days separate from sick days and have that be paid time off for their employees. But else can employers to support mental health in the workplace?

According to WHO employers can:

Prevent work-related mental health conditions by preventing the risks to mental health at work;
Protect and promote mental health at work;
Support workers with mental health conditions to participate and thrive in work; and
Create an enabling environment for change.

There are several risk factors at work including high-stress environments, low job security, unsafe working conditions, unhealthy buildings, long commutes, poorly defined job descriptions and responsibilities as well as low or insufficient compensation that can all have an adverse effect on mental health.

On a separate note, I also think from personal experience that local Jamaican health insurance should cover talk therapy and psychiatry visits.

Let me know if you are enjoying this month’s blog posts and come back next Sunday for mental health and physical health.