Mental Health Matters – an NDPHS project on mental health at work selected for funding - NDPHS

Mental Health Matters – an NDPHS project on mental health at work selected for funding

28 April, 2023

Mental health of employees is a major concern in the Baltic Sea Region. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, half of the EU workers considered stress to be common in their workplace, contributing to around half of all lost working days. Combined with a shortage of qualified workforce, this puts the ability of public and private enterprises to withstand crises in jeopardy. To be economically and socially resilient, companies and communities need a mentally resilient workforce.

“The relationship between work and mental health involves two key issues: how mental health impacts the ability to work, and how work impacts mental health and well-being. The concept of work-related mental health has become more nuanced over time, and mental health at work encompasses more than just diagnosed disorders or their absence”, says the OSH EG’s Chair Owe Österbacka.

Mr Österbacka further states, that the employer has a responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace, which includes identifying and reducing psychosocial risks. All actors involved, such as employers, employees, and occupational health and safety personnel, have important roles and tasks. Cooperation is essential for identifying and assessing risks, as well as successfully removing or reducing them. To achieve this, there is a growing need for knowledge and tools related to work and mental health issues, enabling all parties to work in a preventive and health-promoting manner.

The Mental Health Matters project, funded through Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme 2021-2027, brings together policymakers, employer and employee representatives, OSH experts and educators to assess the existing policies and practices related to mental health at work. During the project’s course, they will propose measures to better address current and emerging psychosocial risks at work. As a short-term solution, the project will develop a first-aid-kit to support small and medium-sized enterprises in assessing psychosocial risks and taking preventive action.

The project will run for two years from August 2023 until July 2025.

The partnership is comprised of the NDPHS Secretariat as the lead partner and five institutions represented in the Occupational Safety and Health Expert Group:

 

Text: Saara Rissanen, the NDPHS Secretariat, Owe Österbacka, Chair, the OSH EG.

 

Other News
Public Health in the context of the Polish response to the refugee crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine
Currently Poland is hosting the largest number of refugees from Ukraine, roughly 1.5 million. This article, prepared in connection to the European Public Health Week, tells the story of how Poland mobilised to ensure the Ukrainian refugees the access to HIV treatment and medicine
24 May, 2023
A story from Ukraine
This is the story of Anastasia, an HIV positive person, who fled the war in Ukraine to Finland and found a way to continue her antiretroviral treatment. The article is prepared in connection to the European Public Health Week 2023.
24 May, 2023
The WHO European Region to relocate the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases from Moscow to Copenhagen
A special session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe was held in a virtual format on 15 May 2023, where Sweden and the majority of WHO Member States in the WHO European Region decided to relocate the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) from Moscow to Copenhagen. The decision was taken in support of Ukraine and enables the WHO to continue its work fighting noncommunicable diseases in Europe.
16 May, 2023
New guide for arts and health collaboration
Together with the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture we are delighted to launch a guide: “Talking Points: Arts and Health in Communities”. The guide is about arts-based interventions that combine medical and cultural approaches with the aim of offering support to arts and health practitioners interested in creative approaches to wellbeing.
16 May, 2023
NDPHS congratulates Finland for becoming a NATO member
4 April 2023 marked a historic day for one of the NDPHS Partner Countries. The blue cross flag was raised at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Finland had just become the 31st member of the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
5 April, 2023
Using behavioral insights in public health programming
As public health professionals, we tend to rely on education and training to encourage people to adopt more healthy behavior. Although we know that often, even when people know how to behave healthily, they choose not to do so. This is because behaviors are driven by multiple socioeconomic and cultural factors. Knowledge alone does not necessarily change behaviors.
28 March, 2023
World Tuberculosis Day: ‘Yes! We can end TB!’
Tuberculosis remains a major public health challenge in some of the NDPHS partner countries, and it is crucial that governments and international organizations continue to prioritize its prevention and treatment, on World TB Day 2023 emphasizes the NDPHS Expert Group on HIV, TB, and Associated Infections. While progress has been made, there is still much more work to be done.
24 March, 2023
All News >