How to Take An Effective Mental Health Day

Your Day Off.

We wish the days were gone where people could feel they didn’t ‘have to pull a sicky’. We wish workplaces in a real way supported wellness as much as they claim to be doing. We wish people didn’t have to be ‘really sick’ to phone in sick. We wish people didn’t have to bring work home to prepare for the next day. And we wish they didn’t have to work crazy hours to justify taking time out for themselves, their families, their mental health and wellbeing.

Many times you are not paid when you stay late or when you take work home with you. You are doing it for free. We understand many of you may not be able to change the demands of your workplace. However you can at least contemplate how you can change what you do with your time when you are not at work.

Here are some ideas:

• Set a time limit for the amount of work you bring home and stick to it.

• Pay yourself for those extra hours. This way you are rewarding yourself. By having a physical transaction for your free time that you are giving away, you will see clearly how much extra un-paid work you are doing. It will help you stick to the time limit. It may motivate you to take some action or to make different choices within the workplace.

• Schedule a regular mental health day. At least once per month, within your work week if that is possible or within you non-working time. Schedule an entire days activity that has health benefits for you. And at lease once per week schedule a 1 hour health benefit activity for you. Do not wait until the workplace stress becomes too much for you.