24th November, 2019
Small business owners and managers often look to advisors for support in areas beyond what they’re able to offer, including for mental health and wellbeing advice. But a helpful guide from Beyond Blue may be the first step towards addressing this issue.
Many people at the helm of Australia’s 2.26 million small businesses share something in common.
Working long hours, cash flow issues, social isolation and balancing work and domestic responsibilities are some of the unique challenges small business owners face.
And not surprisingly, these factors can also affect a business owner’s mental health and wellbeing.
While running a small business can be hugely rewarding, a 2018 University of Melbourne report commissioned by Beyond Blue found almost one third of small business owners report having high levels of psychological distress.
The good news is that with support, people who experience mental health conditions can recover or effectively manage symptoms enabling them to live contributing lives.
That’s because mental health is not a fixed or static state.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines mental health as ‘a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to her or his community’.
(Workplace Mental Health Toolkit, Black Dog Institute)
Mental health exists on what experts call a continuum, where positive mental health is at one end, through to severe symptoms of mental health conditions at the other.
Think of it as a set of traffic lights.
If you’re in the green, you’re feeling good and functioning well. You are physically and socially active and sleeping well.
Stress and other factors can lead us into the orange, where we might be irritable, forgetful, anxious and nervous.
If we end up in the red, we may have angry outbursts, constant fatigue, experience extreme anxiety and panic attacks, and possibly experience suicidal thoughts.
It goes without saying that it’s important to stay in the green whenever possible, and if we feel ourselves sliding towards the orange or red, that we know how to recognise the signs and how to take appropriate action.
At a macro level, according to a report by KPMG, poor mental health costs Australia an estimated $60 billion per year. In the workplace, people struggling with poor mental health are more likely to be less productive or absent.
It follows, then, that businesses and business owners that prioritise good mental health practices are more likely to reduce absenteeism, increase productivity and benefit from associated economic gains.
The signs of poor mental health can manifest in many ways which can often make it difficult to identify if support is needed, either for ourselves or for others.
A person who runs a business may not be meeting deadlines, may be less engaged in meetings or their work standards may be lower than usual.
At the more serious end, a small business owner may find it difficult to control their behaviour at work, be absent from work, or have withdrawn from colleagues, customers and clients.
Sometimes the first person to notice these changes may not be someone in the business at all, but someone who supports or advises the small business owner – the accountant, the bookkeeper, the small business mentor, a family member or friend.
Now, more than ever, mental health support is an essential tool in the kit bag of those who advise and support small business owners.
And while you are not expected to become a counsellor or clinician, advisers have told us they want to play a support role that goes beyond business advice.
That’s why Beyond Blue has developed a free resource to make it as easy as possible for small business advisers to easily find the information they need to feel confident in playing a support role.
The role of small business advisors is about more than just providing guidance on debts, accounts and assets — it’s about people.
As professionals, small business advisers equip small business owners with the right information so they can run their business successfully.
Now they can also play an important role in supporting the mental wellbeing of small business owners and empowering them to look after their own mental health.
Beyond Blue’s Supporting small business owners to improve their mental health and wellbeing at work guide equips small business advisors, as well as family members and friends, with practical information they can share with small business owners.
The guide allows these advisers, who often see first-hand how stress can affect small business owners, to provide support without needing to be a trained counsellor or clinician.
It includes practical tips on:
It also provides links to resources such as personal and workplace wellbeing plans, actions that small business owners can take themselves, and information on how advisers can look after their own mental health.
The guide suggests several ways for small business advisors to help impact positive mental health practices in a business.
Another Beyond Blue guide, entitled Actions for small business owners to improve their mental health and wellbeing, provides practical suggestions for business owners to improve their mental health — and ultimately the health of their business.
They include things like:
Download the free Supporting small business owners to improve their mental health and wellbeing at work guide