When Work Stress Requires Clinical Intervention
Although colleagues and employers are not responsible for treating and diagnosing mental health conditions, they can play an important role in helping someone access necessary support. At work, employers tend to spend a lot of time with employees, and colleagues spend a lot of time with each other. So, naturally, you might notice if someone’s mood or behavior has changed significantly.
If you’re concerned about someone’s mental health at work, this may indicate that they need the support of outpatient mental health services. But when it comes to how to refer patients to outpatient mental health care, this is where a professional’s guidance may be needed. And you might be unsure about the signs that this action is needed or about the mental health referral process to outpatient care.
A mental health professional can talk to you if you’re concerned about someone’s mental well-being, offering guidance on the right steps to take. In the meantime, this article can also help by exploring:
- Signs of poor mental health at work
- What outpatient mental healthcare is
- The role of HR in referring professionals to outpatient care
- Key steps in the referral process
- What follow-up support might involve
Mental Health Concerns at Work: When to Refer a Colleague
When you notice a colleague or employee is behaving differently and think it might be due to their mental health, it’s natural to be worried about how to respond. Plus, if your company doesn’t have outpatient therapy referral guidelines, you won’t have a concrete procedure to follow.
Before discussing how to refer patients to outpatient mental health care, let’s explore your first steps. This involves noticing the signs of poor mental health, understanding what outpatient care is, and checking whether you can involve HR.
Signs of Poor Mental Health at Work
Mental health conditions can affect how people think, feel, act, and relate to others. Knowing the warning signs can ensure you act when it’s appropriate. The following signs commonly indicate that a colleague’s mental health has worsened:[1]
- Feeling excessively sad or worried
- Strong or prolonged feelings of anger or irritability
- Extreme changes in mood
- Avoidance of social activities
- Inability to carry out daily responsibilities and cope with daily stressors
- Difficulties understanding or relating to colleagues
- Overusing alcohol or other substances
- Many unexplained physical ailments
If you’ve observed these signs over a long period of time and they can’t be explained as a one-off bad day, it might be necessary to suggest professional support. These signs might not indicate a mental health condition, but they do call for a supportive conversation about what might be going on for someone.
If your colleague expresses that they’re finding it hard to cope, it might be the right time to refer them to outpatient psychiatry or psychotherapy.
Before we explain what this is, it’s important to note that you can’t make someone seek mental health treatment. While a mental health crisis does call for urgent action, non-crisis mental health difficulties don’t. We recommend having a thoughtful and supportive (non-disciplinarian) conversation first to find out more about their feelings.[2]
What Is Outpatient Mental Health Care?
Outpatient treatment is a flexible option for people facing conditions like anxiety, depression, and other mental health difficulties. People who might have more complex needs, such as those with bipolar disorder, personality disorders, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can also benefit from outpatient care.
Since they don’t involve overnight or hospital stays, outpatient care doesn’t interrupt people’s daily routines. It might involve regular therapy sessions, group therapy work, medication management, or behavioral health advice.
In your search for resources, you might also come across the term “behavioral health services.” These clinics or centers are difficult to distinguish from outpatient mental health services, as their offerings often overlap. The only important difference may be that behavioral health services focus more on lifestyle factors like substance misuse and eating habits.[3]
Regardless, behavioral health referral criteria include the same signs listed above, as well as symptoms of suicidality, psychosis, or signs that someone can’t currently look after themselves.
What Role Does Human Resources (HR) Play?
HR professionals have an important role to play in employee mental health, which is important to know when thinking about referring employees or colleagues to mental health programs. If you have a Human Resources team, it’s their responsibility to:
- Provide support and resources
- Develop policies and procedures
- Make reasonable adjustments to working conditions
- Have conversations with employees about mental health
These responsibilities include coordinating outpatient mental health care and processing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) referrals to outpatient therapy if necessary.
If you’re worried about a colleague’s mental health but don’t feel comfortable talking to them about it, HR can respond instead. So you should be able to share your concerns with your HR team about anything you’ve noticed at work.
Of course, you might not have to go through HR if you want to reach out to a colleague directly. Plus, if your company is small, you might not have an HR team at all. In these cases, you can certainly initiate a supportive conversation and refer them on if necessary.[4]
How the Referral Process Works
Referring someone to services might feel daunting as there are multiple emotional and practical steps involved. In reality, the steps to refer for outpatient programs will depend on the employee’s personal circumstances, the specific outpatient service, and your company’s procedures.
However, there are some general guidelines you can follow to support medical referrals for therapy services effectively. These include:
Helping Them Feel Comfortable
First of all, it’s necessary to talk to the person you’re worried about in a comfortable and safe way. Many people feel uncomfortable talking about their mental health, so it’s best to be considerate about making things easy for them.[4]
You can do so by ensuring you speak to them in a private place and by emphasising that you’re coming from a place of care, not judgment.
During your conversation, listen to them carefully and ask open, exploratory questions.[4] Who, what, where, when, and why questions can be useful for this, as they allow someone to think about their answers.
It’s also helpful to refrain from being overly positive. For example, by immediately thinking of solutions or saying things like, “You won’t always feel like this,” and “Remember the good things about your life.” Responding in such ways can be perceived as minimizing the problem.
You should also assure them that your conversation will be confidential, but that you might want to speak to someone else if you become concerned for their safety.[4]
Include Them in the Referral
Personal autonomy is important. As mentioned, you can’t force someone into mental health treatment. Before making any calls or decisions on their behalf, ask them what kind of support they feel they might need. You could also tell them about the outpatient services you’re aware of or offer to search for them.[4]
Keeping them informed every step of the way is respectful and promotes their autonomy. Although you want to help, making decisions on someone’s behalf can be disempowering.
If your company offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), you might initiate what’s called an “informal self-referral.” This is when the referral isn’t associated with discipline or work performance, but when the employee is having difficulty with personal issues.[5]
Contact the Service
Once you’ve collectively decided on a service that feels right, it’s time to make contact.
When referring through an EAP, it will be necessary to provide your name, the employee’s name, and the employee’s job function. They might also ask about the signs or difficulties that have arisen at work, and a brief history of the problem.[5] However, informal self-referrals are usually carried out by the employee themselves.
If the employee would prefer to access outpatient services privately or through their work health insurance, give them the option to contact the service themselves. If they’d prefer you to do so on their behalf, check with their availability before scheduling an appointment.
Aftercare: What Happens After the Referral?
Due to HIPAA regulations, employee healthcare information is kept confidential from their employers.[6] However, there are still ways you can support them after the referral has been completed. This includes:
Checking In
Schedule a private meeting with the employee a week or two after your initial conversation. You might even have already agreed to catch up on how things are going. In this meeting, remain curious and exploratory, as before, and ask if there are any adjustments they might need at this time.
Making Adjustments
If an employee’s mental health condition qualifies as a disability, most employers are legally required to provide reasonable accommodations. This might include allowing things like:[7]
- Sick leave for mental health reasons
- Flexible use of vacation time
- More frequent breaks
- Flexible and remote working
- Food or beverages at work stations (for example, to mitigate medication side effects)
- Technology, such as organizer software
Usually, reasonable adjustments are low-cost and simple for employers to implement. They can help employees return to work more quickly and, of course, eliminate risks around lost productivity.[7]
Even if they don’t have disability status, making the necessary adjustments can foster a supportive working environment that promotes good mental health.
Return-To-Work Planning
If the employee decides to take time off work to recover their mental health and engage in treatment, returning can feel difficult. You can be supportive by developing and following a return-to-work plan.
This can involve offering flexible hours, remote working, and implementing structured support for the future. In addition, it can be helpful to discuss how much they want their team to know and whether they’d like regular check-ins about how they’re getting on.[1]
Mission Connection: Mental Health Care for Professionals
If the employee you’re worried about wants personalized mental health care, reach out to us here at Mission Connection. We treat a range of mental health conditions from multiple outpatient facilities and keep our clients’ unique needs and preferences at the heart of our work.
Our licensed professionals offer cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), trauma-focused counseling, exposure therapy, emotion-focused therapy, and many more options, allowing clients to choose the best fit for them. We understand how working professionals can find it hard to manage their work and home lives, as well as mental health difficulties, so we help them achieve a balance.
We welcome both self-referrals and HR referrals to mental health treatment. If you’re worried about your own mental health, take a self-test to learn more about your symptoms or reach out to speak to our team today.
