When Should You Take Mental Health Sick Days?
Every person has been through periods where they have felt at the end of their rope while at work as if they are at their breaking point mentally but do not know what they could do to alleviate the stress that may be a result of that very same job. Whenever you have a string of bad mental health days, everyone needs to know that they always have the option of taking a personal day to themselves. Sometimes all we need is a break. A mental health sick day is not discussed as often enough in the workplace as it should be. The Counseling of Southwest Florida’s team of expert mental health professionals has made this quick guide to mental health days in hopes that they may help make a few more people happier with the information.
How to Tell if You Need a Mental Health Day?
Before you begin wondering how to take a mental health day, it is crucial to establish if you truly understand when to take a mental health day, that they are unique from regular time off and even sick days in many critical ways; be sure you know when to use one. A mental health sick day is intended to be a day reserved for someone to focus exclusively on themselves. These are days where people have a chance to sit back and truly assess their mental health situation and analyze how to make it better. When you feel that your life is not going the way you wanted, or maybe if you have recently suffered from a very traumatic experience and require some time to put things into perspective. That is when you should take a mental health day.
How to Call in Sick for a Mental Health Day?
If you have decided that you need a mental health sick day but do not know how to go about getting some time off of work or school, do not worry. There are plenty of great ways to get yourself the time necessary to work on yourself. Many schools and workplaces offer mental health day programs, where they give a specific non-sick day personal leave option where employees or students can take some time to themselves. If your school or employers do not offer such a program, then be sure to look into how many personal days they allot to employees or what the guidelines are surrounding sick days. They may not be intentionally excluding mental health sick days but instead lumping them into standard sick days or having more personal time off than usual.
Our Southwest Counseling Center Is Here to Help!
If you need more than just a few mental health days but instead require professional help in southwest Florida mental health services, be sure to contact our mental health team. Help is never more than one call away.
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Casey is the founder and CEO of Portner Counseling Group (PCG), a counseling center in the Fort Lauderdale area, which specializes with issues related to drug and alcohol use. Casey has completed focused course work on the physiological aspects of drug addiction and human psychology, as well as received extensive training on the treatment of co-occurring disorders.