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Most interesting interview on mental health awareness in the workplace just now on BBC News. Unfortunately, I just caught the tail end of it.

The gist being the spokeswoman for the organisation was saying that employers need to be aware of and respond much better to mental health issues. There needs to be a culture change.

Physical health is covered under H&S regulations and is visible. Mental health issues are often hidden in most cases with employees afraid to make their employer aware of issues they may be having in fear of the impact it may have on their job. This leads to increased stress and an exacerbation of the mental health issues they may be experiencing.

To put a personal perspective on this, last May, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. She was 89 so too frail to undergo any treatment. She passed away last August.

At the time, I was working in a sales role where targets were key. I was under huge stress anyway trying (and failing) to meet the, in my view, unachievable targets imposed by my employer. I have previously suffered two heart attacks, thankfully minor ones, likely to have been brought on by stress.

My Mother’s illness and death affected me very badly as one might expect. I was, therefore, trying to manage my job and its stresses as well as the impact and repercussions of my Mother’s illness and death. I made my employer aware of this and, whilst my line manager, a company director, appeared sympathetic, his advice to ‘compartmentalise’ the stress in my personal life when I was at work as my job and meeting my targets had to be the priority was received by me with some degree of dismay and frankly, anger. Speaking to friends and colleagues, they were similarly dismayed at the response.

A positive side-effect of all this, however, was that owing to an unexpected legacy from my Mother, I was able to leave my job in the Spring of this year on my terms rather than the inevitable push by my employer.

Yes, I do need to get another job as my funds are limited but the relief I feel and the reduction in my stress levels since leaving work is huge.

I fully acknowledge I am far less affected by mental health issues than many other people but the point I have tried to make here is that in my experience, employers still have a long way to go to providing sympathetic and practical support to employees who are dealing with mental health issues.