World Mental Health Day is October 10. The World Health Organization is uniting with partners to highlight the vital connection between mental health and work. Safe, healthy working environments can act as a protective factor for mental health. Unhealthy conditions including stigma, discrimination, and exposure to risks like harassment and other poor working conditions, can pose significant risks, affecting mental health, overall quality of life and consequently participation or productivity at work. With 60% of the global population in work, urgent action is needed to ensure work prevents risks to mental health and protects and supports mental health at work.
This theme of mental health at work aligns with the biopsychosocial approach to mental wellness used across the START network by the National Center for START Services®. The biopsychosocial approach considers the biological, psychological, and social strengths and vulnerabilities related to mental wellness and how these different factors influence one another. Work, which falls under the social area, is just one of the many factors of mental wellness. Fulfilling work is an important part of mental wellness for everyone, including people with intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Read more about mental health at work.
