'More help needed' for work stress

Peter feels there is a stigma to mental health problems (pic posed by model)

A Dorset policeman who had a breakdown caused by job pressures says more should be done to help employers understand stress at work.

Peter was diagnosed with anxiety, depression and work related stress.

It developed after he found a growing workload difficult to cope with.

Dorset Police is one of the least well funded forces in the country and Peter says this had an affect on its ability to recruit enough officers, which he says added to the job's demands.

Stigma

Peter (not his real name) feels there is still a 'stigma' attached to mental health problems and stress in the work place.

After his breakdown, he found that trying to register his illness as an industrial injury with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) was a difficult process.

Peter said that the response from the DWP was sympathetic, but it told him that work related stress did not fit within current legislation as applicants need to specify a time when an injury occurred, but stress and depression often builds up over a longer period of time, rather than as the result of one particular incident.

Peter said: "People are much more accepting if they can see someone's illness or disability, like a broken leg or whatever.

"It is very much harder for someone suffering from stress or a mental illness.

"People find it difficult to understand and accept."

More training needed

Peter thinks both people and employers need to be more aware of the symptoms and risks of mental health problems, and stress in general, in the workplace.

He said: "There are obviously 'heath and safety' guidelines, but I don't think there's the training [to recognise and help people with mental health problems at work].

"It's not just the police but in all walks of life, people need to be trained properly [to understand these types of conditions]."

Peter feels that better support at work may have helped him prevent his own breakdown.

A growing case load, an increase in paperwork and changes in procedures which further slowed progress in his work, all added to what he says was 'constant pressure'.

He said: "I didn't feel the support was there, and it led to a day where everything became too much and I couldn't deal with it."

'Complete desperation'

Peter, who is married with children, is still recovering from the devastating effects of his breakdown.

He said: "I felt complete desperation and despair, so much so that I didn't think rationally. All the normal thought processes went out of the window.

"When I was first off work I was so mentally and physically drained I used to find going up the stairs too much, and before I was very fit and used to go running.

"It's taken me a long time to get back to a kind of normality but I'm still not back to the way I was, it's a very long process.

"It's something I never envisaged. In my own mind, I needed a few weeks [off work] and I'd be back into it.

"It doesn't work like that, there are times when you feel you are continually running up a hill."

Supporting staff

Dorset Police say they have procedures in place to help prevent and manage employee stress, and between the period of 2007/08 and 2008/09 they say they have seen a 41% decrease in overall psychological related sickness (which includes stress, depression and anxiety) in its police officers and staff.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: "The Force recognises the importance of identifying and reducing workplace stressors for individuals as part of its duty of care.

"It also understands that non work related issues can, from time to time, impact on individual wellbeing.

"Whilst the Force has achieved significant success, in recent years, in reducing overall psychological related sickness, it will remain responsive to the changing demands of policing and continue to develop existing and new measures aimed at reducing risk and supporting staff."

BBC - Headroom