Productivity Suffering / Mental Health Issues / Worried About Dismissal

[dizco]

Hello. I'm hoping someone can give me some help in terms of preparation / thinking ahead.

I've worked for the same education company for 17 years and progressed into a senior role in 2019 / 2020, just before COVID hit. Since then my mental health has been steadily declining.

I initially visited the doctor and he prescribed some antidepressants (low dose) which I'm still taking. I live on my own in a small one bed flat and lockdown hit me particularly hard. My family live miles away, so when I was able to I visited them for some respite. Post COVID, we are now all working from home.

In the last year my motivation and enthusiasm have been at the lowest ebb. I struggle to find the energy to get out of bed in the morning, and I'm constantly tired, so much so that I've been taking naps in the afternoon and catching up on my work in the evening. I managed to sustain this for a while, but things seem to be getting worse and I feel like I'm locked in a spiral downwards.

Over the last few months, my boss has received a few complaints internally and from suppliers regarding my response times, and some have expressed concerns that this is impacting their work areas. My boss has reprimanded me a couple of times. One day during my 121 (about 1 1/2 months ago) with him I broke down in tears and told him that I was suffering mentally and that was beginning to feel overwhelmed by everything, including work. We then had a separate discussion regarding EAP and how I could better prioritise my time. Last week another complaint came in, and I had a meeting with him again. I explained I'm still overwhelmed, feeling tired, stressed, and emotional and that my mental health was suffering badly as a result. We have agreed in the new year to move some of my work away until such time as I can resume my normal activities. We've even discussed adapting my role in such a way that would reduce my stress levels.

I have accessed work EAP, and whilst this was helpful, although I feel like I might need more specialist counselling.

I'm really worried that I might be dismissed, and I'm trying to figure out how I can be ahead of any thinking . This might just be an irrational thought, but any advice anyone can give as to how I can handle the situation would be much appreciated. I'm absolutely petrified.

Thanks for reading.

[ULA]

Try not to worry and add further stress to yourself over this. Given your length of service, your employer would need to go through a fair and reasonable process before any dismissal could take place.

In the meantime, have you or your employer considered you attending an occupational health assessment? If not it may be an idea to suggest that this could be a good option to consider as the next stage, it may be that this can be accessed via the EAP. The OH practitioner, following an assessment of you, may be able to make recommendations to your employer about whether there are any reasonable adjustments that can be made to help you and that can be implemented without any operational impact to the business,

[dizco]

Thanks so much for this. Forgive me if I sound dumb, but what would be the main purpose of an OH assessment? Is it to determine my suitability for my role based on my current mental state. I might be misunderstanding, so apologies in advance.

[ULA]

If you are struggling with your mental health and it is impacting your work then an OH assessment is often useful for an employer. The aim would be for your employer to better understand how they can assist you carrying out our job and OH may be able to provide some suggestions on different ways of working that help reduce the stress levels for you which you/your manager may not have thought of.

[dizco]

Thank you so much for your suggestions. It's much appreciated.