To not know what to ask work for in relation to my anxiety?

[okhowabout]

I have anxiety. I'm very fortunate in that my employer is really great when it comes to mental health.

I have regular meetings with my manager where at times I've been able to have small ad hoc adjustments made, for example during a really bad 'flare-up' of anxiety there was one day where I was really struggling in the office and needed to go home early.

I have also had a referral to occupational health, who have recommended things to my employer including reducing the number of unnecessary 'big triggers' where possible, letting me start later in the day when I'm in the office to avoid rush hour (which is an option for all employees anyway), and encouraging regular conversations with my manager about my mental health.

I have a follow-up meeting with HR and my manager, and have been asked to think about any additional support or adjustments I want. I'm not really sure what to say/ask for in these meetings. I've found that my mental health has improved a lot by starting medication, taking short regular breaks throughout the day, and I think just knowing my manager knows about my issues with anxiety now helps a lot as well.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions on what to ask for? I was planning on just saying everything has been going well, but also conscious that I don't want to 1. Not make the most of this opportunity and 2. Run before I can walk.

Hey OP. Its great that you are working for someone who is committed to your mental health. You could say that the interventions already in place is helping you manage for now and thank them for their support. Then I'd make a point of saying that as with many MH issues anxiety is never steady, there are times when its manageable, like now and times when you might need to reach out again. I'd ask that you keep quarterly check ins to review. The only other thing I can think of is access to therapy. Do you get that as part of OH?

Really glad to hear you are improving OP, wishing you the best.
If you have nothing to add at the moment, just say that the current adjustments are working well and having the desired affect so can they continue, and then suggest you have a review of the adjustments in a couple of months in case of any changes? You dont have to add any additional ones in if the current ones are doing the trick, so this way you are covering yourself in case things change and you need something different?

Sorry, should have said that I am
coming from this as someone with longstanding issues with anxiety as well as line managing team members with anxiety. I have been a better advocate for my team than I have been for myself over the years. With team members are do regular checkins, depending on how they like it. One wants weekly mainly for reassurance I think. I provide a hand hold, help him to pioritise deadlines and advise (or take over) challenging stakeholder relationships (as he finds them triggering). That way I can tale his triggers off him (as far as I am able to) and he can focus on creating content.

Another team member prefers less intervention from me as she finds them triggering and doesn't want to be "micro managed". I followed the script of team1at first but have now realised thats not what team 2 needs. She prefers to reach out to me as and when she needs support. Which is fine too.

If you're happy with the change in work to date, mention that you're okay at the moment.

You can advice them if things change in the future.

As you found being able to leave early a big help on that one occasion, can you have an agreement with your manager that you can do this if you ever really need to, and possible agree wither to a code word "I'm leaving early now remember I have that dentist appointment" or that you can just email them explaining and go.

Say that you envision it being a very rare occurrence but that it would be useful to have it in place as a last resort option without having to worry about girding yourself up to ask if you can leave, or hanging around if your manager is in a meeting?

Other than that it's hard to give general advice because it depends on what your individual triggers are. E.g. when I was really struggling with my mental health I asked to come off the on call rota- I had no problems with doing any work but struggled with the unpredictability of not knowing if the phone would ring or not. Some people get stressed by deadlines others find them helpful, some like micromanaging some hate it, some need to be told its OK to go on leave and to in no circumstances at all do any work whereas others feel better if they can just check their emails occasionally so they don't come back to any huge surprises.

Thank you all, really helpful and I'm making notes of your comments so I remember to mention them!

I was having weekly meetings, and this has now moved to every 6 weeks. This is my first after the 6 week period.

Thank you, it's really helpful to hear from a manager's perspective.

It’s lovely that your employer is so good, I told my manager about my depression last year and she hasn’t checked in with me once since! If things are going well, I’d say that things are OK for now but you’d still like regular check ins incase anything changes as it’s really hard to seek help yourself when things are bad.

Maybe you don't need more than for the things that are working to be continued consistently?