Panel: Addressing Mental Health In The Workplace

• diversity_admin
• 7 October, 2021

• Farimah Darbyshire, head of programmes, City Mental Health Alliance
• Jonny Jacobs, finance director, Starbucks and Trustee of the Mental Health Foundation
• Monika Misra, head of employee health and wellbeing, GSK

RACISM in the workplace has the biggest impact on people’s mental wellbeing, a mental health advocate has said.

Farimah Darbyshire from City Mental Health Alliance revealed a recent survey showed 45 per cent of black people, 23 per cent of South Asians and 28 per cent East Asians experienced racism at work. Although those surveyed said they had also experienced racism in public places, it affected them more when they had faced discrimination in the working environment.
“You feel like you should be a part of the community (at work) so (racism) can have a real lasting impact,” Darbyshire said.

Starbuck’s Jonny Jacobs spoke about the stigma of mental health and noted the conversation on the issue had become more significant in recent years. “We’ve seen that (discussion) rise up in the national consciousness and that has fed into the workplace,” he said.
The session also saw Jacobs and Dr Monika Misra share the origins of their interest with mental health.

Jacobs said his passion for wellbeing deprived from witnessing the power of storytelling within business. “It helped me find my own voice,” he said, revealing he had experienced mental health issues while growing up. He shared one of the most significant lessons he had learnt during his career: “If you do not focus upon your mental wellness, you’ll be forced to focus on your mental illness.”

Misra, who is a qualified GP, said she was first introduced to mental health when she studied medicine. She learnt more about psychiatry and was fascinated how people’s environment positively or negatively affected their mental health. Soon after, she began working with employers on strategies around mental wellbeing. Misra has worked as the head of employee health and wellbeing at pharmaceutical company GSK for the last two years. “While I really enjoyed the individual support I gave to patients, doing something on a wider scale in a work setting could allow me to make a greater impact,” Misra said.