The Elephant in the Room: Mental Health – Suicide

Posted on by Donna Obstfeld
**TRIGGER WARNING** The content of today’s blog is heavy reading. If you are affected by any of the issues raised by today’s blog, please seek support and speak to someone immediately. Contact details are in the box at the end of this blog. There are a lot of myths which surround suicide, and it is…

Read More...

The Elephant in the Room: Mental Health – Psychosis

Posted on by Donna Obstfeld
The main forms of psychosis are schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Unfortunately, it often takes a long time to diagnose properly and to treat effectively. Psychosis is a condition in which the person has changes in their thinking, perception, mood and / or behaviour. As you might imagine, all of these can be a problem in…

Read More...

The Elephant in the Room: Mental Health – Self-harm

Posted on by Donna Obstfeld
Self-harm is widely misunderstood. There are many people who self-harm as a way of exerting control over themselves or a situation. Contra to popular belief, self-harm is NOT an attempted suicide, however, the people who self-harm are at increased risk of suicide, often because the stress triggers are the same. Self-harm is a behaviour which…

Read More...

The Elephant in the room: Mental Health – Anxiety

Posted on by Donna Obstfeld
Anxiety can be a good thing. It helps us to avoid dangerous situations and it motivates us to solve problems. However, like many mental health issues there is a spectrum of anxiety which ranges from good mental health through to debilitating mental health. There are a number of different disorders which are classified as anxiety…

Read More...

The Elephant in the Room: Mental Health – Depression

Posted on by Donna Obstfeld
Having clinical Depression is very different from being depressed. You can feel depressed when you hear bad news, when you read a sad story, or if you have had a bad day at the office. However, a medical diagnosis of Depression is made when symptoms last for more than two weeks and affects the employee’s…

Read More...

The Elephant in the Room: The Smelly Employee – Body Odour

Posted on by Donna Obstfeld
Ouch! The ultimate of difficult conversations and one we have had to support a lot of employers through over the years. Unlike most of our previous smelly employee* blogs, where the employee usually has a measure of control over the smell, body odour is one which many people have little or no control over. In…

Read More...

The Elephant in the Room: The Smelly Employee – Weed

Posted on by Donna Obstfeld
Some people will recognise the smell of weed a mile off. Others will never have come into contact with people smoking weed, but they are aware of a strange smell. Weed is cannabis. It is a drug. Also known as marijuana, pot, grass and dope, weed is illegal in the UK. As an employer, you…

Read More...

The Elephant in the Room: Smelly Employees – Alcohol

Posted on by Donna Obstfeld
Most companies have a policy which states that you must not attend work under the influence of alcohol, and some will clearly state that alcohol is not permitted during working hours, including business lunches, networking events and formal dinners. However, in some sectors, drinking (alcohol) at work is part of the job, it’s expected. The…

Read More...

The Elephant in the Room: The Smelly Employee – Cigarettes

Posted on by Donna Obstfeld
In my opinion, there is nothing worse than a colleague who comes into a meeting stinking of cigarettes! I remember a time when people used to smoke in offices, it was completely normal. Just like smoking on an aeroplane – smokers on the left, non-smokers on the right‼! Something my kids cannot believe was ever…

Read More...

The Elephant in the Room

Posted on by Donna Obstfeld
This is the first in a series of blogs to mark our 14th birthday on 1st May 2021. The background to my thinking here is a little odd, but the theme of these blogs is based on ‘The Elephant in the Room’. All the things which employers do not want to talk about or deal…

Read More...