How can parents concentrate on work when their children have mental health problems?
Hi, we are the Workplace Wellbeing Team at Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind.
Do you know that saying that we are “only as happy as our most miserable child?”
Well, for those parents who are trying to help their children who are having mental health problems, this may be very true. As a result it can lead to problems at work, attendance orperformance may be negatively impacted.
Let’s imagine: Your 11 year old son is showing behavioural problems in school and you are getting regular phone calls and emails about this. He is difficult to manage at home, creating tension in the family with his outbursts, poor sleep and up and down moods.
You are trying your best to manage so it does not impact too much on other family members. Plus you are using any spare moments contacting professionals, trying to find ways to bypass waiting lists for assessments and perhaps disagreeing with your partner on the best way to help him. He keeps you up at night, either literally, or because your mind is racing trying to figure out what to do. You are exhausted at work, preoccupied, unproductive and feel as though you need more TIME and ENERGY to balance everything. You work full time and have two other children. Where is this time and energy going to come from!?
“68% of working parents are concerned about their children’s mental health.
60% of parents are concerned that this impacts their own mental health.
48% of these parents have said, these concerns about their child have impacted their work performance.
8% considered leaving their work altogether.
12% considered reducing their hours.
38% said that their companies did not support them when their children were struggling.
Now here is the really important bit…
66% of parents would like support from their employer?”
But how many people are asking for that support?
The impact of a child’s mental health problem in the workplace is pretty new territory. It’s always been there, but is just now being discussed more openly.
How many companies understand and provide that support?
As managers, do we want an employee who is anxious, exhausted from negotiating the complex mental health system for their child, socially withdrawing and in work but not productive (presenteeism)?
This can impact team morale, productivity and ultimately impacts any KPIs the company may have.
Post-pandemic, in an energy crisis with soaring costs, with the mental health of young people being an increasing concern, our workers’ mental health needs to be firmly in the spotlight.
Flexibility, understanding, emotional literacy
The CHMA cited flexibility as being the most important need for these parents, as well as understanding and compassion, and information on how to increase their emotional literacy – meaning having self-awareness and recognition of your own feelings and knowing how to manage them.
35% of parents did not feel comfortable talking to their children about mental health problems. Let’s face it – it can be a really tricky conversation to have!
Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind Workplace Wellbeing Team
At Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind, the Workplace Wellbeing Team provides a broad range of mental health training to help many workplaces across the region to support their people.
Supporting parents of children who are having mental health problems is one of our keen interests.
We would love to talk to you about how your organisation can support parents as well as the general wellbeing of your staff as over 17 million days are lost each year in businesses across the UK due to stress related situations or illnesses, costing billions to the UK economy.
Find out how we can work together to help prevent this by emailing
training@middlesbroughandstocktonmind.org.uk or call: 01642 257020