World Mental Health Day on 10 October is an opportunity to look at how workplaces support mental health, and whether employees feel able to speak openly about the issues affecting them.
This year, the focus on lived experience highlights the importance of listening to people with direct experience of mental health conditions and making sure their knowledge helps shape the policies, services and decisions that affect them.
For health and safety professionals, this raises the question of whether employees are genuinely being heard when they raise concerns about their mental health, wellbeing or working environment.
When employees don't feel heard
Mind's 2026 See Me Now campaign is calling for a different approach to mental health support, based on same-day open access.
The campaign highlights the experiences of people who have asked for help but have been left waiting, felt unheard or received support that did not meet their needs.
While the campaign focuses on access to mental health support, the principle of being heard is also relevant in the workplace.
Employees may be experiencing stress, anxiety or other mental health challenges without feeling comfortable raising them. If people believe their concerns will be dismissed, judged or simply added to a long list of issues waiting to be addressed, they may choose to stay silent.
For health and safety teams, that silence can make it harder to understand the risks people are actually experiencing at work.
Mental health is a key part of workplace safety
Mental health is increasingly recognised as part of a wider approach to workplace health and safety.
Workload, organisational change, job security, workplace relationships and operational pressures can all affect how people feel at work. Employees who are struggling may also be less likely to raise concerns or ask for support if they do not feel psychologically safe doing so.
This means creating opportunities for people to speak is only one part of the picture. What happens after someone speaks matters too.
If a worker raises a concern about workload, stress or their working environment, they need to feel that their concerns will be taken seriously and lead to an appropriate response.
The value of lived experience
This year's World Mental Health Day focus also highlights the importance of involving people with lived experience in decisions about mental health services and support.
The same principle can be applied within organisations.
Employees have first-hand experience of how policies, processes and working practices affect them. Giving them a meaningful role in conversations about workplace health and safety can help organisations understand issues that may not be visible from a management perspective.
This could mean involving employees in wellbeing initiatives, listening to frontline feedback, strengthening peer support or creating clearer routes for raising concerns.
The aim should not simply be to give people a chance to speak, but to make sure their experiences can influence what happens next.
Turning listening into action
World Mental Health Day provides a useful opportunity for health and safety teams to consider whether their approach to mental health goes beyond awareness.
Are employees confident raising concerns? Do they know where to go for support? Are managers equipped to respond? And when someone does speak up, is there a clear process for taking action?
Creating a workplace where people feel seen, heard and taken seriously can support both mental health and a stronger safety culture.
As World Mental Health Day 2026 highlights, listening needs to be more than simply hearing someone's experience. For meaningful change to happen, people need to have a voice in the decisions that affect them.
👉 Register your interest for The Health and Safety Event 2027 HERE.
👉 Subscribe to Health Safety Digital for monthly updates HERE.
