Millions of Americans struggle with mental health and substance use (alcohol or drug) conditions. The umbrella term for all these issues is behavioral health conditions.
When an employee begins struggling with a behavioral health condition, supervisors are often frustrated by the decline in the employee’s work performance. The employee may try to hide the condition for fear of losing their job. If the worker does disclose the condition, the supervisor may be confused about the course of such conditions within the context of work and unsure of how to respond.
Since behavioral health conditions are common, workplaces benefit when they are prepared and knowledgeable. DMEC and The Standard created the Managing Optimal Work Performance Through Behavioral Health Conditions white paper to highlight the predictable sequence of impacts and events that occur as symptoms emerge.
Multiple areas of the worker’s life and other aspects of their health become compromised. The sequence of impacts can be used to create a map for supervisors whose employees are experiencing behavioral health conditions.