Men @ Work

“It's a big problem for individuals, organisations and governments, but it’s been largely neglected by mental health research,” says UNSW consultant psychiatrist Sam Harvey, of the issue of workplace mental health.

Mental ill-health is now the leading cause of long-term absence from work, with around one in three people who leave employment for health reasons citing it as the cause. The cost to the economy is estimated at $12 billion each year.

“Workers find it hard to ask for help with emotional issues because of the stigma of mental health problems and the impact it might have on their careers,” says Dr Harvey, who is head of the Workplace Mental Health Research Program at UNSW, based at the Black Dog Institute. “Men, particularly those working in traditionally male-dominated industries, often find it especially hard to ask for help.”

However, that could be about to change. Harvey and his colleagues at UNSW and the Black Dog Institute have received $2.8 million over three years from Beyond Blue and the Movember Foundation for a world-first project to encourage men to access the help they need.

The Men @ Work project uses new technology, such as interactive apps on smartphones, to literally put help in the palm of men’s hands. The technology enables men to assess their symptoms and risk factors and develop personalised mental health plans.

“Workers find it hard to ask for help with emotional issues because of the stigma of mental health problems." ... Dr Sam Harvey. Photo: Grant Turner

This technology, together with integrated manager training, will be rolled out and evaluated in around 60,000 men who work in male-dominated sectors, such as emergency services, agriculture, construction and manufacturing.

“Men have ignored their mental health for a long time,” Harvey says, “but there is now a recognition there is a problem and we need solutions.

“We need an evidence base. There are a lot of workplaces that want to do something to tackle the problem of workplace mental health but many of the programs that do exist are driven not by evidence but by commercial interests.

“We are trying to fill that gap.”

The South Australian–born Harvey, who qualified as a doctor in Adelaide, spent 12 years in the UK working as a general practitioner before training in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London.

“One of my clinical jobs, while finishing my PhD, was running a psychiatry clinic for London Ambulance. I saw people who were at the front lines in the [2005] London bombings and who had real difficulty getting back to work,” Harvey says.

It was while running this clinic he realised the need for more services focused on workplace mental health. He returned to Australia in 2012 to the first dedicated clinical research post into workplace mental health in an Australian university.

Men @ Work is one of four projects utilising UNSW’s mental health expertise to receive funding from the Movember men’s health initiative. UNSW Professor Helen Christensen, chief scientist of the Black Dog Institute, will provide mental health expertise and support for a $1.9 million, sports-based health intervention led by the University of Wollongong, and the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre’s Professor Anthony Shakeshaft will lead a multi-university collaboration aimed at improving the mental health of Indigenous young men and boys.

One of the biggest grants – $2.6 million – went to the Like Father Like Son project, led by Professor Mark Dadds from the School of Psychology. The project encourages men to take a more active role in managing aggressive behaviour in their sons.

“Disorders of violence, aggression and antisocial behaviour occur most commonly in males and often begin early in life,” Dadds explains. “If left untreated, they signal a high-risk factor for mental disorders in adulthood.

“But if conduct problems are caught early they can be treated relatively inexpensively … and outcomes are vastly improved when fathers participate.”