World Mental Health Day – The importance of Self-Care

Event report

World Mental Health Day is an international day dedicated to raising awareness, eliminating stigma, and sharing information about mental health. Deloitte Tohmatsu Group holds series of learning sessions on mental health throughout the year, starting from Internal Event on World Mental Health Day 2022, which was well received last year.

This article is to share some of the aspects of self-care that were covered in the second and third Mental Health event series, as a part of our efforts to celebrate World Mental Health Day 2023, . At the event, we welcomed Dr. Masashi Omuro, representative of Omuro Industrial Physician’s Office, who also serves as an industrial physician in our group, as a guest speaker to discuss importance of self-care in mental health and how to practice self-care.

*The first event report is Here

*The fourth and fifth events are scheduled to be held from the end of 2023 to 2024.

*All information is as of the time of the event.

Dr. Masashi Omuro’s profile

Panel discussion (Event Summary)

Self-care Is Becoming More Important for Mental Health as the Retirement Age Goes Up

< Facilitator > Rie Okubo/Chief Talent Officer, DEI Leader (Referred to as “Okubo”): Before we get to the topic of self-care, let's talk about retirement age in Japan. The retirement age has been gradually raised in Japan so far, and if the retirement age continues to be raised in the future, it is possible that many people will still be working at the age of 70. Given that people will be working longer duration than in the past, the importance of maintaining and managing mental health is also increasing.

Dr. Omuro: Yes. These days, there is a phrase in Japanese, “from long working hours to long working life.” Mental health care is important for a long working life. As a basic concept of mental health care, there are four types - Self-care, maintaining and managing your own mental health; Line-care, a supervisor cares for members; Care provided by industrial physicians and occupational health staffs; and Care provided through external support, such as EAP (*1), which is contracted by organizations to provide support.

(*1) EAP: Employee Assistance Program. A support system/service where employees can receive consultations or counseling with specialists (clinical psychologists, industrial counselors, career consultants, and others) through an external consultation service with free of charge. Deloitte Tohmatsu Group’s EAP provides solutions to individuals and companies from the perspective of psychology and behavioral science with the goal of improving productivity in the workplace. It offers consultation on a wide variety of topics related to both work and personal life regardless of their severity.

The first step to self-care is recognizing your own mental health status. When I hear from people who have been on leave due to mental unwellness, many say, "Looking back, my physical condition seemed a little off for about six months before I took a leave, but at that time, I never thought it had been because of my mental health. I thought I had just been tired." Recognize small changes in your physical conditions as well as emotions, be aware that these may be signs of mental unwellness and take appropriate care and action if you see signs of mental unwellness. This may sound too basic, but it is a very important point to prevent your symptoms from getting worse.

No Need To Think, "I Do Not Have Stress Tolerance."

Dr. Omuro: We often hear the term "stress tolerance," but in reality, there is no simple concept as stress tolerance. Unlike muscle strength, it is not easy to understand or quantify. People who did not feel stressed in some situations may feel stressed in other situations, and so on. So many combinations of situations and conditions change the way individuals feel, resulting in what is called “stress tolerance.” So, don't think, "I'm not good because I do not have stress tolerance."

There are people who blame themselves, saying, "I may be a worrier" but that is totally fine. It would be a problem if your worry takes over and interferes with your daily life and work, but to a certain extent, it is a personality. That is a part where you do not really need to compare with others. If you are good at what you do and how you react, there is no problem to being different.

Okubo: On weekends, when I end up just watching TV, I would blame myself thinking, "Oh, I did not do anything today…" but Dr. Omuro once advised me, "That is much needed time to treat yourself as a human being!" Since then, in such situations, I find it easier to think, "I deserve this because I am a human being!"

Dr. Omuro: "Being lazy" is also very important for humans, because it is a precious, luxurious and indulging time! It is also important to understand your stress points. Say, there are two cashiers at a supermarket - one cashier is fast but messy and very unfriendly; The other cashier is very polite but slow. Which is more irritating or stressful may be different for everyone. Also, it may change depending on the situation, such as your mental state, environment you are in, and your plans afterwards. In addition, it would be even better if you know the signs of your body when you accumulate stress. Too much stress can cause headaches, overeating, or even loss of appetite. I think it is helpful to be aware of some of your signs.

Mental Health Care Under Working From Home

Okubo: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has become familiar to many people, but we often hear that "It was good when I started working from home, but when you have been working from home all your life, it is easy to get stressed out." Among the topics of mental health in our society, working from home has been brought up quite a lot. Are there any ways or tips not to accumulate stress and fatigue when working from home?

Dr. Omuro: First of all, the most popular keyword is small talk. When you work from home, you do not have the chat that you used to have when everyone was in the office. Then, it becomes difficult to understand the "personality" that you felt through those small talks. I feel the words of people who I do not know well tend to come across stronger. For example, the word “silly” might sound like scolding or booing if it is by someone you do not know well, but if you know their personality beforehand through the real communication, you might be able to tell it is just an expression to cover embarrassment.

Therefore, there are many organizations that provide support to get to know the personalities of team members they work with by holding remote luncheons, setting up chat channels for small talk, and holding occasional offline events.

Okubo: Indeed, I feel that the words from people I do not know well might come across stronger. One of the participants asked an additional question in the chat, saying “Compared to face-to-face meetings I had when I used to go to the office, I find online meetings with video turned on more stressful. I do not know why, but do you have any thoughts on the differences?” We have received several similar questions. What do you think?

Dr. Omuro: Many people feel that way, and it is a frequent topic in many organizations these days. First of all, if you have a face-to-face meeting in real life, you can tell whether other people are watching you or not. But when it comes to remote meetings, it is difficult to make eye contact with other people because of camera position etc. Some organizations have a rule to turn your video on when you have an online meeting. However, some people get nervous when seeing many faces line up on screen, and then would turn off or minimize people’s faces on screen to reduce pressure of being seen -as a countermeasure. It is one of the self-care methods that is unique in today's era where remote meetings are norms.

Pitfalls of "Are you okay?" "Yes, I'm fine."

Okubo: I learned that asking for support is an excellent skill through our mental health events. But mental health consultations are always difficult, and when you work remotely, it is even more difficult to decide when to consult. Are there anything that managers should keep in mind?

Dr. Omuro: There is a strong tendency that consultation about mental health is done at the very last minute. And if you work from home, you will not be able to stop your manager in the hallway and say, "Do you have a minute?" However, when managers ask "Are you facing any challenges? Are you doing okay?" during 1-on-1 meetings, many people seem to reflexively reply, "I am fine." As an industrial physician, when I talk to managers, many people would tell me, " He/she said yes when I asked if he/she was okay ...".  However, when considering remote work in the future, I think it will be important to be able to say "I am not okay" when you need help. Also, managers could keep in their mind that even if a member says "I am fine", sometimes it may not be true. It is necessary to have something like a disaster drill to practice consultation. It is quite difficult to consult suddenly unless members have a habit or a place to consult with their managers on a regular basis. So, it is important for the managers to try to build a relationship where their members can consult on a regular basis.

Okubo: I am also a certified yoga instructor, and when I give yoga lessons, I was told that I need to ask, "Are you all right?" three times to someone who seems to be in pain. The first time you ask, the answer will be, "I am fine." So it is not to make a decision based on just one question.

Dr. Omuro: After all, when people are asked, "Are you okay?" people would reflexively answer, "I'm fine." On the other hand, even when a distressed member wants to talk to a manager, it may be difficult to say, "Excuse me, I need to talk." when you know the manager's schedule is full, and even more so when you are working remotely. Okubo-san, do you have any members who you feel are good at asking for help?

Okubo: I appreciate the type of people who do not hesitate to contact me even if my schedule is full. If they actively contact me, we can prevent things like "I had some other matters, and it got lost as time passed." and even if my schedule was full, I will be able to ask, "I am sorry today’s slot does not work, but how about this time of the day?" instead.

Dr. Omuro: I see. Also, if you have 1-on-1 meeting once a week, members can easily communicate by simply saying "I am a little unsure about how to deal with this project we are working on, so I might send you some messages via chat to ask some questions." or "I am worried about the particular tasks and 1-on-1 may not be enough time, so I may have to contact you multiple times from this week to next week." Then managers can reply "No problem at all. Call me!" A trusting relationship starts from small steps, and I think that such small accumulations of communication will become the basis for a relationship where members feel like they can consult early even in an emergency situation such as mental health challenges.

Okubo: I understand. From the viewpoint of accumulating communication, it is easier for both the manager and the member to understand the personalities of each other by actively including small conversations like ice breakers in regular 1-on-1 meetings.

Through today's event, I re-recognized that it is important to consciously incorporate a little ingenuity into our lives when it comes to mental health self-care. Also I strongly felt that organizations that promote remote work need to actively share their knowledge on mental health care with working members. I hope that you will embrace yourself in your everyday life by affirming that this is the self-care that you need, sometimes treating yourself, participating in events to relax, and using our internal well-being system and EAP as needed. Thank you so much Dr. Omuro, for your valuable insights today!

One of Deloitte Tohmatsu Group’s Shared Values is “Take care of each other: We look out for one another and prioritize respect, fairness, development, and well-being.” In particular, as we can not visually see mental health challenges, they can be difficult to recognize them even in ourselves. We need to all be aware of this fact and gain better understanding in this topic while cooperating with each other. Deloitte Tohmatsu Group recognizes that people’s mental states not only change but also vary depending on the individual, and we will continue to empower creating an inclusive environment going forward.

See HERE for reports on other DEI-related events.