Employer strategies for supporting parents of children with mental health challenges

Underlying mental health illness of family members usually have some distracting effects at some point on a working parent’s focus in the workplace.

Meetings with the school, relationship problems with friends, unhappiness at home … any, or all, of these things are likely to be experienced if your child is unhappy and perhaps displaying behavioural issues.

These problems might well be associated with an underlying mental health illness, but arguably – and more often than not – they are associated with normal teenage behaviour, or the challenges of having a neurodiversity in a neurotypical world.

And all of these things lead to lingering worry and distraction for parents. When you’re a working parent, this arguably translates into presenteeism, maybe even absence.

Support is usually in place

Addressing issues early is obviously important for your child, but also for you.

And if you investigate your existing employee benefits, you might just find that appropriate support – for both the child and their family – is already there, waiting to be used.

“It's important we distinguish between typical behavioural issues in adolescence and underlying issues. And how the child is coping with those issues. Is the coping mechanism healthy?” said Alessandra Sorrentino-Lawrence, clinical psychologist at Teladoc Health, Generali’s Virtual GP and Parent & Child Mental Health Consultation partner.

This is a completely confidential and immediate-access service – in other words, no referral required – that is embedded in Generali’s Group Income Protection and Group Life propositions.

“During a parent-child Consultation, we’d gain a clear picture, not just of the child or adolescent, but also of the family, and that will give us the information we need to understand how to help,” added Sorrentino-Lawrence.

She recently spoke on this topic, at a recent Generali webinar for HR and line managers, along with Colin Preece, clinical head of mental health at Teladoc Health.

The webinar focused on support for children’s mental health issues, but also touched on normal – yet worrying – mental health in children and teenagers.*

Neurodiversity is not a mental health issue, but can be accompanied by emotional challenges

Reports show a 350% rise in children waiting for an autism assessment, since the height of the Covid pandemic.

Neurodiversity isn’t a mental health issue and Teladoc doesn’t provide such assessments, but it can still help with any accompanying emotional and psychological challenges.

“We often hear concerns from parents they think their children might be on the Autistic Spectrum and they want them to be tested. This is something we do not provide,” said Sorrentino-Lawrence.

“Having these conversations helps us differentiate between a real underlying issue or a behavioural issue. This helps us know where to go next.

“The challenges on an emotional and psychological level that the child may be experiencing because of a neurodiversity are important and can be severe.

“Their self-esteem can be impacted, their relationships can be strained, social expectations, performance at school.

All of these things can be really challenging. So, we might not be able to assess the child, but we can help them to cope with difficulties that the neurodiversity might present,” she added.

The potential for overdiagnosis: Don’t medicalise what might be typical teenage behaviour

Then there’s the issue of mental health diagnoses among children/teenagers.

The statistics are alarming.

In recent years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50%.

Now, 1 in 6 children aged 5-16 is apparently likely to have a mental health problem.

Record numbers of young people (those in their early 20s) are reportedly unable to work because of mental ill health.

One in three (34%) people aged 18-24 are reporting symptoms of ‘common mental disorders’ (e.g. anxiety and/or depression).

And women aged 17-22 are the group most likely of developing a mental health problem.

We asked Sorrentino-Lawrence whether she felt there was the potential for overdiagnosis.

“Absolutely. And as a mother I really feel this. Part of our job is psycho-educating families, rather than medicalising everything. This is about normalising behaviours, where it’s relevant to do so,” she said.

“Let’s imagine that a parent is worried about their adolescent child; perhaps they seem aggressive.

“This would potentially be considered a normal stage of adolescence, during which time we need to be challenging, because we’re forming our personality and identity.

“However, what we, as professionals, normally look at is the impact – how is this impacting on your functioning?

“How is it impacting on your relationships, in your family, with your peers and at school?

“If the functioning of the child isn’t affected, we’d normalise the issue and provide psycho-education, provide coping strategies in terms of changing the dynamics, and providing alternative parenting solutions.”

5 top tips for employers

Develop a clear mental health policy for families.
Train managers to recognise and respond to employee needs.
Make mental health resources visible and accessible.
Encourage work-life balance and flexible schedules.
Regularly assess and refine workplace support offerings.

*For a free recording of the webinar, entitled Parent and child mental health support: A workplace essential, email: [email protected].

Disclaimer: All information contained herein represents the views and opinions of the author as of the date of writing and is provided for general information only. Nothing herein constitutes or is intended to constitute financial or other form of advice and no individual should rely upon the information provided in making a specific investment decision without first seeking independent professional advice.