Giving Voice to Men's Mental Health with Adrian Yeates

Today on The Work Well Podcast we dive into a topic that doesn't always get the attention it deserves: men's mental health. Joining us we have Adrian Yeates, who has over thirty years of business experience in different industries, both in Ireland and abroad, and at all management levels including CEO. Adrian has been a spokesperson for mental health and wellbeing following his own experience of anxiety and depression. Currently he runs Lizado Services, an organisation that works with employees to better understand stress and mental health.

Adrian is also a board member of the mental health charity Aware and is an ambassador for See Change, whose mission is to work positively to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health.

Let's get right into our conversation! Take a listen. 

Adrian's beginnings with mental health and stress management

Adrian's first experience with mental ill health goes back to 1990, after he joined Nissan Europe. In that decade, Adrian and his wife had stable jobs, and a baby on the way. Life was good. However, he had a “sense of dread” that he couldn’t make sense of.

“I didn't really know what was going on. So I was actually diagnosed at that point, it was 1994, with depression.”  He comments. This was truly a breaking point for Adrian, since men’s mental health and mental illnesses, in general, were stigmatised in most workplace environments at the time. 

“But the good thing is, and the message I'd like to get across to people is getting the appropriate support and treatment for any mental illness means recovery is more than possible.”

Since then, Adrian has been dedicated to using his EQ and experience in people development to increase the conversations around mental health in the workplace amongst his peers and other organisations.

Supporting men's mental wellbeing in the workplace

The ratio of men that participate in wellbeing initiatives in the workplace is significantly less than the number of women who do, but why? And, more importantly, how can we improve their active participation?

Adrian believes that the answer to this question lies in how each organisation prioritises employee wellbeing.  Although most managers would think immediately about running a quick survey, Adrian actually advises to sit back and think about one's own needs.

"The thing about it is that sometimes people see gaps or they notice that things aren't as good as they would like them to be. So if you can approach the staff and say 'This is what we're doing, what's missing? Or what would you like to see more of? What would you like to see less? And engage others, this is important."  He adds.

How COVID changed the development of organisational wellbeing

Adrian is not only a See Change ambassador and member of the board of Aware, he also offers freelance consultancy and training to like-minded organisations. "I just find there's been a great response in Ireland to supporting mental health, and organisations are taking it more seriously." He attributes this, in part, to COVID and the rise of remote and hybrid working models. 

The bowls of fruits in reception and table tennis in the break out areas became the genesis of our modern wellbeing initiatives, and the pandemic just accelerated the development of more formal and effective tools. 

In the midst of what has become known as "the new normal", organisations are struggling to bring people back into the office and workplace wellbeing programmes are more important than ever. 

"We are done with mental health"

Adrian and Brian discuss the premise that organisational wellbeing is an ongoing endeavour. It is not enough to run a training programme or do a couple of sessions every once in a while. Adrian looks at mental health and wellbeing, like any other process in the organisation. It's a continual improvement process that brings results over the long term.

Anecdotally it has been reported that productivity has increased during our remote work experiment, countering the fear most managers had around the lack of supervision. "Productivity has gone through the roof. Why? Because people can network on their own terms. They can get the things they need to do in terms of work, life balance, you know, the personal things around that need to be done for them so that they're in the right mind space to be productive." Says Adrian. 

The future of work in the words of Adrian Yeates

"It's hard to know with any great certainty what's going to happen next week, let alone in five years' time. But certainly, for me, the trend would be that organisations need to be much more flexible and they need to integrate work-life within the company." Adrian starts. 

This means responding to what employees and members of the organisation have to say about its culture. As an employer, you shouldn't have to wait until workers become unwell or start underperforming to act on a solution for them, and the easiest way to avoid that is to build a safety net within the organisation. 

Adrian states that, even though most support programmes don't provide immediate solutions to individual cases, it is positive to know where to go when someone is feeling unwell. 

Small improvements over time can lead to incredible results.

If you’d prefer to watch our conversation, you can view it on YouTube through this link. 

If you liked this episode, and you'd like to know more about Adrian Yeates, follow him on LinkedIn. You can also find out more about Lizado Services and See Change.

About Your Host

Brian Crooke is a wellbeing educator, speaker and adviser, empowering organisations to promote and sustain wellbeing within their workplaces.

He is the founder of The Work Well Institute and the Work Well Community and is Course Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Workplace Wellness at Tangent, Trinity College Dublin. He is the host of The Work Well Podcast.

If you’re looking to bring sustainable wellbeing to your workplace then check out The Work Well Institute’s flagship programme, Developing a Workplace Wellness Programme that Lasts.

In his spare time, Brian is bringing free resistance training to every county and community in Ireland through his parkHIIT social enterprise.

If you have any suggestions for future topics you'd like to hear on the show, email Brian directly, brian@workwellpodcast.com