Purpose: This activity helps participants to identify what they need for the workplace to be more supportive and then to develop an action plan to move toward a workplace climate that supports mental health.
For this activity you will need:
· One copy
of Handout F: Action Plan for a Mentally Healthy Workplace, for each participant
· Flip chart
paper & markers
Step 1: This activity allows a staff team to identify what it would be like to have an "Action Plan" in place to make the work climate supportive of members' mental health, and to set priorities and make plans to make those things a reality. Share with the group that this is an activity about imagining change. It may not be possible to make everyone's wish a reality, but the first step is to know what everyone's vision for a better workplace is. Because this is a brainstorming session, no one is allowed to comment on or criticize anyone else's idea.
Ask participants to call out their wishes for a workplace that would support mental health. List their responses on a flip chart. Remind participants that wishes can involve the areas of policy and/or practice, for example:
· Policy:
Flexible scheduling for personal days, etc.
· Practice:
Regular peer support meetings, etc.
Step 2: After every person's wishes have been recorded, ask each member of the group to choose three items from the list that are their priority items. Each person should choose the things that she feels would be the most important to her in achieving a supportive workplace climate that promotes mental health.
Step 3: Go through the original list and ask for a show of hands on each item to see how many people selected that item as one of their top three. The number of participants that chose the item should be listed next to it.
Step 4: Look at the wish list and eliminate all items but the five that the largest number of people chose as priorities. Now ask the group to consider just these five items. From those five, have each participant select their top three priorities.
Step 5: Go through the top five items and again list how many people have chosen each item as one of their top three. From each item's "score," choose the top three priority items.
Step 6: Insert the top three priority items on a flip chart with four columns:
· The Wish
· Anticipated
Benefits
· Available
Resources
· Action
Steps
For each of the three priority items, the group should brainstorm available resources. Be sure to include resources from private and public community agencies including volunteers, resources that parents could help contribute, agency resources such as the mental health consultant or health coordinator, training money, and others.
After considering resources, list two or three action steps that could move the wish a step closer to reality.
Points to Consider:
· People in work groups have overlapping needs, and it is possible to come to some consensus on at least a few ways to improve the workplace.
· Sometimes it feels risky to suggest ways to change a workplace. What if the management team or your supervisor disagrees? New management philosophy recognizes that often the changes that result in improved quality are those that are suggested from the front lines.
· Sometimes,
institutional change is impossible to effect. In caring for our own mental health,
we need to build in strategies that we can control ourselves, for example, using
lunch breaks for exercise or meditation.
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