A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

Confronting mental health issues in your newsagency

As employers, as retailers and as small business owners, mental health issues are often not far away from a newsagent. Sometimes we don’t know it while other times it’s obvious and on show for all to see. How we confront mental health challenges is important for us, our business and those presenting with issues.

Beyond Blue has published Business In Mind, a useful resource for small businesses on issues relating to mental health in the workplace. This is a good starting point for learning more. In the resource there are links to other resources that can help.

Finding mental health resources for small business owners dealing with mental health issues is not as easy as it is finding resources for managing the workplace for better mental health. It’s tough running any business and sometimes things can feel overwhelming. This is where networking can help as a first step, talking with others.

Newsagents and other small business owners feeling challenges within themselves need to treat themselves as employees and use the resources available. To this end, starting points suggested on various sites include:

Doing better with mental health matters in small business starts with understanding. That’s where the Beyond Blue resource is helpful.

15 likes
Newsagency management

Join the discussion

  1. steve

    Mark it is very appropriate you touch on this issue. The mental and physical health of business owners are very important and is something that seems to be ignored and not discussed very much.

    3 likes

  2. Mark Fletcher

    Steve some days are a real struggle for some newsagents yet as business owners they/we have nowhere else to turn. It’s frustrating we don’t talk more about it.

    5 likes

  3. steve

    mate credit where credit is due. We often turn to this site as way to help us get through, so thank you.

    7 likes

  4. Jenny

    It is extremely important for all staff in small business where you are dealing face to face with customers to be aware of any mental illness that their colleagues are suffering from.
    They need to have some understanding their colleagues problem so that they can read the signs and know when that person is not coping, so that they can intervene and help the situation, whether it be helping with a difficult customer or just knowing they need to escape for a breather.

    Depression and anxiety cause mood swings and panic attacks but this can’t be seen by other staff or customers like a physical illness can.
    These illnesses affect so many people, and it can be extremely stressful working alongside a colleague who is suffering and not coping, but we need to be understanding and knowledgable so that we can help them as much as possible.

    2 likes

  5. Mark Fletcher

    Yes, Jenny complex on many fronts: customers, employees, supplier reps we see in our stores and ourselves. The hardest part is checking with ourselves, objectively, and understanding our own health.

    1 likes

  6. John Kirkham

    Mark, I’m a little perturbed by this post, by you.

    Is there something else we should all know? Was there an event that happened via something you heard about.

    It seems a little disconcerting.

    1 likes

  7. Mark Fletcher

    John, a couple of times each week I hear about or encounter first hand a situation that could evidence mental health issues. The post was not driven by these but by a general feeling that this is a topic we should all consider for ourselves and from the perspective of our respective businesses.

    6 likes

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Reload Image