Mental health at work: This is how the return to professional life succeeds!

Susanne Kramer (name changed) lives as a client of the integration specialist service (IFD) in Marburg with a degree of severity due to psychological and physical illnesses. She has been given support for six years, especially when talking to superiors, as it is difficult for her to stand up for herself. The problem of mental illnesses is underpinned by a DAK study, which documents increasing sick days as a result of such diseases.

Around a third of the clients of the IFD have mental illnesses, with frequent diagnoses of depression as well as fear and adaptation disorders. Both personal and biological and environmental causes, such as stressful working conditions, contribute to these diseases. The IFD offers comprehensive support, including help in forms, rehabilitation applications and the search for therapy places.

adjustments at the workplace

In order to meet the needs of employees with mental illnesses, adjustments to the workplace are essential. This includes technical help, conversion measures and individual solutions, such as sound insulation, individual workstations and avoiding alternating layers. The IFD has also made specific adjustments for clients in social professions.

A central problem is that employers often do not recognize signs of mental illnesses such as unpunctuality or declining performance. Therefore, open communication via required adjustments is important, although employees are not obliged to disclose their diagnosis. The IFD even led a lecture on mental health at Elkamet plastic technology in order to raise awareness of these topics. The company regularly carries out employee surveys for psychological stress in order to further improve working conditions based on the results.

An important aspect of dealing with mental illnesses in professional life is the company integration management (BEM). Employees who are unable to work for more than six weeks a year are entitled to BEM, whose aim is to return to a health -related job. A common measure in BEM is the gradual reintegration, in which those affected initially only work a few hours a day.

In the context of the BEM, employees do not have to provide any diagnosis, and in-house doctors can talk to specialists in terms of diagnoses if necessary to give recommendations for the BEM team. This focuses on help measures and not on diagnoses. In addition, employees cannot be forced to treat. The BEM can also contribute to clarifying behavior or performance issues, while conflict management is ideally carried out by external bodies to avoid role conflicts.